Not for Long
by jillyjillyfairfax
Summary: What if it wasn't just Diego who joined the duo? What if there was another saber with him, and a mute female one at that! Join Taura as she travels with the trio throughout their wild and crazy adventures. DiegoOC, takes place throughout all Ice Age movies 1-4. Now on Ice Age 2!
1. Introduction

**So basically, I will hopefully write this throughout the entire Ice Age franchise depending on how many people view this or review it. **

**Warning: OC pairing, Don't like, DON'T READ!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own the Ice Age franchise or any of the characters in it; that all belongs to Blue Sky**

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The forest was bathed in the sunset glow; it looked like everything was glazed with orange. The chilly, grey-clouded scenery was swept away and replaced with a pink, marmalade sky and a bright red sun setting over the horizon. The trees tips pointed towards the sky like needles and down below, the forest floor was coated with a layer of decaying autumn leaves. It was the migration season, when all the herbivores...well, migrated.

Travel a few kilometers north from the center of the forest and you would find the leaf-coated floor would dip sharply to a rocky, jagged surface and into a valley. Inside, was where the humans made camp. If you stood on the top of the cliff, you would see a wide valley with various tents set up here and there; large chunks of burnt wood still smoking from last night would be found next to them and some trees would have a wolf tied to it for guarding their tents. To the east of the camp, there was a large waterfall that was connected to a running river that sleeked through the camp and up to the faraway mountains. To the north of the camp, was a large cliff side of another mountain, with various caves large enough for saber-toothed tigers to fit into. Coincidentally, that is exactly what the caves had in them, except two of the residents woke up for an early look out.

A pair of large sabers stood on a cliff overlooking the valley; one larger than the other. They were both looking out towards the camp were the humans were currently making preparations for a morning hunt and whatnot. A group of male humans were circling a campfire to get warm, when the chief left the circle to greet his wife who just exited the tent with a baby in her arms; it was an adorable child with black locks and chubby cheeks. The chief tickled the baby's cheeks and cooed over him while the child giggled and squirmed in his mothers arms. The mother gestured for her husband to move back as she set the baby on the floor, both parents watched the child as it awkwardly tried to walk towards its father. It nearly succeeded but clumsily fell over into his father's arms and was lifted up again.

"Aw, look at that cute, little baby Diego," Soto sneered with a deep rumbling voice (one of the larger sabers), "Isn't it nice that he'll be joining us for breakfast?"

"It wouldn't be breakfast without him," Diego said with a scowl, his claws scratching against the rocky surface in excitement, as if itching to rip the soft skin of the humans.

"Especially since his daddy wiped out half our pack," Soto agreed as his sneer formed into a disgusted glower at the memory, "And wears our skin to keep warm! An eye for an eye..." he turned his head towards his subordinate with an evil smirk, "Don't you think?"

Diego didn't reply but narrowed his eyes even further towards the camp "Let's show those humans what happens when they mess with sabers!"

Soto nodded his head and looked back towards the valley. "Alert the troops, we attack at dawn." Diego turned his back towards the valley and was about to head towards the caves. "And Diego," Diego paused in his steps and looked back towards his leader, "Bring me that baby...alive. If I'm going to enjoy my revenge, I want it to be fresh!" Soto said in a bone-chilling voice as he smirked evilly towards the couple who were too occupied with playing with their child to notice a large saber glaring at them.

Diego left Soto to his glaring and walked towards the caves where the last of the pack members were laying, awaiting orders. Soto was always like this, ever since the human invasion back at Half Peak. A lot of strong members were lost and it seemed that lady luck decided to mock them that day by coincidentally leaving the weak members of the pack to survive another day: the scrawny, meat-crazed Zeke; fat, lazy Lenny and stupid, arrogant Oscar. Technically, Oscar was one of the medium strength members of the pack, but he always went against everything that Diego did or said. That and the fact that he might be a little jealous of Diego being Soto' right hand man, so in Diego's eyes: weak. Well, maybe not ALL the survivors were idiots...

Before heading towards where the other guys were, Diego jumped onto a nearby ledge and entered a smaller, solitary cave. The surrounding walls were black and damp with condensation as the night air chill went in. There was crack in the ceiling which allowed small rays of sunlight to pour onto a feminine, feline face. There, lying in the center of the cave taking a nap, was a female Smilodon. Her coat was a dark brown while the underbelly was beige with brown patches. Her fur was also beige around her face and muzzle and a brown patch on her left eye. On the same eye, there was a long, ragged scar that ran from her eyebrow ridge down to her muzzle. If her eyes were open, you would see a single pool of molten amber. Emphasis on the SINGLE, because her left eye was always permanently shut. Well, at least that's what Diego always saw, since he wasn't sure if she was even able to open it or not. She also had two beige stripes that ran down from her shoulders to her short tail.

Diego felt his lips curve into a soft smile at the very rare sight. Ever since the incident with the humans, it seemed like Taura hadn't been sleeping well since the past weeks. She always either stayed up all night or woke up from a horrible nightmare of the incident. What else would you expect from someone who had their brother killed right in front of their eyes? It was also where she got her scar from. Ever since then, Soto left her in his charge since he was too busy being hell-bent on his revenge on the humans to be bothered with her. It wasn't like Diego had a choice; it was either that or let the others have their way with her and he sure as hell wasn't going to let them do that. At first, she was kind of an annoying pain in the butt.

Back then when the pack was bigger in number, Taura was one of the members of the infiltration teams which usually consisted of small, sleek females who were not strong enough to join in hunting expeditions. Instead, they would be assigned to patrol territory borders, spy on enemy packs or infiltrate their bases before letting the other pack members attack the other sabers. Since Taura wasn't big or strong enough to join the hunting party (which consisted of all members), she wasn't really much use in the beginning, which kind of made Diego look like her babysitter. Hence the name: pain in the butt. But Diego then found her to be good company after a while since she didn't yap too much like Zeke, or whine about how hungry they were like Lenny, or brag how superior she thought herself to be like Oscar. Actually, she didn't speak at all. Ever since the death of her brother, Taura didn't speak a word. They just left it with the theory that she suffered from shock or that she was always mute. Later on, they managed to use her as a spy for the humans, since she was small enough to pass for a wolf whenever she moved in the shadows.

Diego gently touched her shoulder to try and wake her up.

"Taura? Come on, wake up," Diego called out softly, the soft smile that was previously on his face now gone and replaced with his usual stoic face. Taura's right eye started to flutter open and was greeted with Diego's glowing hazel eyes. She smiled sleepily before stretching out her front legs and releasing a roaring yawn. She sat back on her haunches while smacking her lips tiredly and trying to keep her eye open. She waited for Diego to tell her the VERY good reason for waking her up from her first decent catnap in a month, but he just stood there with his usual stoic expression.

_'Well?' _She said telepathically with a grumpy pout. Even though she couldn't (or rather wouldn't) speak to anyone, Diego was the only person she trusted to telepathically communicates with. Even though by now he can tell whatever she's saying just by the look of her eyes (eye?), it was much more convenient this way.

"New orders from Soto: we're attacking the humans at dawn so make sure you get plenty of rest tonight," Diego said, while trying to hold off an amused smile at her grumpy pout.

Taura rolled her eyes and instantly flopped back to the ground (literally!), _"Yes thank you, but y'know you could've just told me that at dawn? Now go away, I wanna go back to sleep!"_ She whined telepathically as she rolled over trying to get back to the position she was originally sleeping in. But before she could even go back to sleep, Diego pulled back her eyelid with one of his fingers while smirking at her looking amused.

"And you know that if I did do that, you would just whine about waking you up five more minutes later. Plus, you need to eat before you go back to sleep," He said, letting go of her eyelid painfully when he finally finished his sentence. Taura felt her eyebrow twitch in annoyance and tried to swipe at him from her awkward position for what he did to her eye, but Diego simply dodged swiftly by moving backwards and walking towards the exit of the cave, smirking smugly.

Taura rolled her eyes again and reluctantly got up and hurried to catch up to him._ "Fine mother hen, I'm coming,"_ she said as she smiled mischievously at successfully wiping the smug smirk from his face and replacing it with an annoyed scowl as he growled at her threateningly. She simply bumped her shoulder with his and smiled even wider with a look from her eyes that said 'Calm down, I'm just messing with ya'.

Diego tried to ignore her giant grin as he walked with her towards the cave where the leftovers from yesterday's bison were. Oh, and also where the other three idiots were. What a great day this will turn out to be...


	2. The Chase is On

**Wow! I uh, was honestly not expecting this many views! Glad to know that you guys like this story! I figured that since a lot of people like the Diego/Shira pairing that in the end you wouldn't bother reading it, but I stand corrected!**

**Anywho, I could just continue on with the story but now I'm just gonna ramble on some more and reply to ur reviews:**

**Shiego627: Haha, yep! Gotta luv that devious character! Hope this update is soon enough for u!**

**TimberPaw: Thanks! I worried a little bit thinking that I might have rambled on with the detail a bit too much, but I hoped that it would make it more unique and make it stand out more than the other stories. Hope u like this update!**

**Dodgerxrita: Yeah, that was the original plan. I don't exactly have a plan for how it would turn out, but I was just hoping that I would...y'know, wing it! XD **

**Btw, _Italics_ means telepathic communication.**

**Warning: OC pairing, Don't like, DON'T READ!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own the Ice Age franchise or any of the characters in it; that all belongs to Blue Sky**

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As soon as dawn came, all hell broke loose.

Zeke and Lenny were fighting off the wolves that were set loose from their leashes, while Soto and Oscar fought off the humans who tried to spear their pack members from the back. The sound of roars, barks, human calls and clashing weapons were ringing in Taura's ears as she sneaked towards the chief's tent right behind Diego. In the beginning, Soto gave orders for her and Diego to sneak into the tent, snatch the baby and rendezvous back at the top of the waterfall while the other pack members distracted the humans with a full on attack. There was no point in the pack trying to sneak up on them, although their footsteps were as silent as the heartbeat of a mouse when they ran, because the wolves were able to sense them as soon as they touched the valley ground. In the end, the sharp and loud barks of the wolves woke the humans up to find a pack of sabers attacking their camp.

The fighting mainly commenced in the center of the valley next to the humans' tents; it gave Diego and Taura plenty of space away from the main tangle of fur and spears to sneak around the tent walls of the chief. Taura saw one of the wolves out of the corner of her eye race towards them, its teeth bared and lips drooling.

_"Diego!"_ Taura warned as she turned around to face the incoming beast with her own long canines bared. Diego turned around a second later, just in time to see Oscar collide with the wolf and roll away back into the brawl that was still commencing in the center of the camp.

"Keep moving!" Diego whispered harshly as he pushed her towards the entrance. They both entered to find the baby tucked into a make-shift mini-bed made from tumbles of brown cloth and wool. The baby was wrapped in the same material very snugly with extra tooth decorations around him, unaware of the chaos that ensued outside. For a split second, looking at the adorable face of the human child that continued to sleep soundly, Taura felt a sliver of guilt bubble in her stomach. But then cast it aside when she felt the scarred lids of her left eye twitch, as if reminding her of why she was doing this in the first place: to avenge her brother.

Diego started to stalk towards the child, when it was suddenly snatched from its cot. Taura looked up to find that the human mother was still inside the tent, now cradling her child protectively. Diego and Taura started to growl at her, as if threatening her to give them back the baby. The female looked around the tent desperately with wide eyes for something to defend herself with as the two saber-toothed felines started to walk towards her. She suddenly grabbed a club from behind her and quickly whacked Diego across the head with it.

_"Diego!"_ Taura cried in alarm, not noticing the human mother had already ran out of the tent.

Diego started to shake his head groggily and tried to stand up. "I'm fine, get the baby!" Diego yelled as he shoved Taura out the tent in a hurried manner to try and catch the she-human.

The mother sprinted like she was running from the Satan himself, and ran towards a ledge that reached all the way across the river and on the other side of the water fall, both sabers hot on her heels. As she tried to run up the bridge, Diego beat her to the top. Diego tried to swipe at the baby but the female quickly pulled the bundle away, leaving Diego with nothing but the tooth-decorated necklace between his clawed fingers. He growled in frustration, threw the necklace down to the floor and tried to catch up to the female again. The she-human then tried to run away through the underside of the ledge, but she was met with Taura cutting her off. The mother then hurriedly ran across the water and onto a rocky ledge that spiked out of the very edge of the gushing waterfall.

As she stood on the edge, she was met with her two chasers who both stalked towards her with bared teeth, like two predators cornering their trapped prey. Panic started to show in the mother's eyes as she looked back from the predators to the very tall fall behind her. She then looked towards her baby, the child that she has been raising ever since he was born. Right there and then, she knew what she had to do and even though the odds were against her, she didn't have a choice. The she-human looked back at her two chasers; this time, her eyes were steeled with determination. Taura and Diego didn't seem to notice and continued to walk up towards her growling threateningly with confidant smirks on both their faces.

The mother clutched her child towards her face very tightly and with one giant leap...she jumped. Both Diego and Taura stood there shocked, before hurriedly running towards the edge, as if making sure that by some miracle she somehow managed to still clutch onto the edge. When finding no mother or baby there, Diego growled in frustration and turned back towards the other side of the river.

_"That's it?"_

Diego looked back to find Taura still standing at the ledge, looking directly at him with eyes filled with all sorts of jumbled up emotions. She seemed to be resonating with anger and frustration, while her eyes seeped with panic and worry._ "What are we going to do? Soto's not gonna punish us real hard if her finds us empty-handed"_ Taura said, looking right into his eyes as if he somehow held the answer there.

"No, he's not going to punish us," Diego said as he looked away from her distracting, imploring eyes. "He's going to punish ME. You go down to the cove behind the waterfall, I'll meet you there after I explain.."

Diego didn't get to finish that sentence when he was interrupted from a sharp pain on his shoulder. Taura dragged his shoulders to face her by biting on to it as she glared at him, her eyes still filled with worry.

_"Are you crazy?! If Soto finds out he'll..."_

"He'll be too desperate to try and catch that baby rather than be too busy punishing you," Diego heatedly said while glaring back at the stubborn female, "If he found BOTH of us empty-handed, he'll assume right away that it was you who slowed me down and end up punishing you for it. And what good would that do?" Diego's glare softened and he sighed deeply before continuing. "Look, just this once, do as I say. I'll be back before you know it."

Taura held her glare unto his hazel eyes before finally relenting by closing her eye and breathing deeply. She looked back up at him with a gaze that said 'Please be careful...' and ran downwards towards the cove. Of course, what with Diego always having to have the last word, he called out: "Don't worry, I'm always careful!" with a smug smirk. Her echoed giggles in the distance put only a little rest in his mind, but that was enough for him. He ran back to beginning of the ledge (which was the rendezvous point) and saw Soto call the others before heading towards him.

"Where's the baby?" Soto demanded as he panted heavily, too focused on looking for the bundle that Diego would've captured to notice that Taura was absent.

"I lost it over the falls," Diego growled aggravated,

"You lost it?!" Soto bellowed, his eyes now officially burning with rage. He then finally noticed another member of the pack missing, "And Taura too?!"

Before Diego could reply, a bunch of spears were launched at them, barely missing by an inch. They all looked towards a hill to find that the humans were chasing after them, now in bigger numbers. The pack quickly ran across the bridge, trying to put some distance between them and the humans.

"No, she went missing during the chase, must've slipped down the falls as well," Diego yelled over the sounds of the bellowing dogs as they ran, "But knowing her, she would probably survive that,"

"I don't care whether she's drown-dead or skewered alive on a rock!" Soto growled at him. It took Diego all of his strength loyalty to not pounce at his leader for what he just said about his friend. "I want that baby Diego, now get it!" He then turned on Diego, looking very intimidating with his bared fangs and glaring eyes, the rest of the pack stopping with them. "You'd better unless you want to serve yourself a replacement!" Soto continued, he then called out to the other members of the pack, "We'll go up to Half Peak!" Soto then looked back to Diego, "Meet us there...and it better be alive!" Soto threatened with a growling whisper.

Soto then ran away towards the valley exit, while Oscar looked at Diego with a mocking smirk. "Can we trust you with that Diego?" He taunted, earning a threatening growl from Diego who would've thrown at him a salty remark if he hadn't been interrupted. "Let's go!" Soto called out, causing the other pack members (including Oscar) to hurry and catch up to him. Diego ran the opposite direction of his pack members.

But little did he know, that Taura had already met the 'odd couple' below whom they would be spending a looong time with...


	3. Meet Manny and the Sloth

**Okay, here's another chapter! Manny and Sid are officially in the picture, Awesome! Hope u guys like these chapters, was wondering whether they are a bit too short or not, so made this one longer for u guys!**

**Anywho, Here are the replies to ur awesome reviews:**

**(HINT HINT: MORE REVIEWS, QUICKER UPDATE! *WINKWINK*)**

**Shiego627: Yup, here they are! Hope I didn't make any of them OOC!**

**TimberPaw: Haha, He'll probably react a little grumpier than usual! Anyway, here's Manny and Sid, hope I didn't make any of them OOC. Don't really have a specific plan for whether to add in the baby after the 4th movie, but I'll see what happens and...wing it! XD And as to what happens next...well, read and find out! XD**

**Btw, _Italics_ means telepathic communication.**

**Warning: OC pairing, Don't like, DON'T READ!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own the Ice Age franchise or any of the characters in it; that all belongs to Blue Sky**

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_"Uuuughhh...wait inside the cove he said...would be fun he said...okay, maybe he didn't say 'fun' but he just HAD to pick the most boring cove on the planet..."_ Taura thought as she lay inside the cold, damp cove. It was rather small and to get inside, you had to be thin enough to fit through a small gap behind the rushing waterfall that crashed onto the river. The sounds of the gushing blue curtain echoed throughout the hollow cove and the intensified sounds nearly caused Taura's eardrums to bleed, what with her having very sensitive feline ears. She was currently laying on the hard, lumpy ground and drawing imaginary lines with her paw as she gazed out at the cove's entrance, as bored as hell.

_"Gah! What's taking him so lo~ong?"_ Taura whined. She then abruptly got up and walked towards the entrance to take a peek outside. She put her entire head outside, so as to look at the entire area.

_"Ouch!"_

She felt something small bump into her nose from above. Taura crossed her eye to make sure whatever hit her nose didn't cause a bruise before looking up to find more pebbles crashing. She took a sharp intake of breath before using her quick reflexes to duck away.

_"Okay, either I'm starting to lose it, or someone is actually stupid enough to climb beside a waterfall..."_ Taura thought as she looked at the pile of rocks under the water. Her curiosity got the best of her and so decided to come out halfway to see what was going on...she definitely didn't expect the scene that played before her...

Above her was what looked like a green, greasy sloth with a yellow pelt and fur that stood up on end like it was electrocuted...and what do you know? He was apparently stupid enough to climb up near the waterfall according to Taura's logic. It wasn't necessarily what the unhygienic looking sloth was doing that turned her eyes into saucers, it was what was dangling from his clawed foot: the human baby that they were looking for! How did it even survive?!

"MANNY!" the sloth yelled as the baby started to slip from his foot. Taura didn't really think on what she did next: the baby was slipping and she was right there, what else was she supposed to do?!

Just as the baby fell from the sloth's grasp, or rather his foot's grasp, Taura launched herself at it and caught it from the scruff of his collar using her teeth. She landed safely on a ledge that jutted out from the ground and turned around to find a trunk slamming into her chin, which caused her to loosen her hold on the collar. This gave the mammoth, who appeared from nowhere, the chance to snatch it away from her.

The mammoth was really large, and Taura couldn't decide whether he was just fat, or just relatively large with coincidentally fluffy fur. He was mainly brown, but the fur at the end of his feet and trunk were a darker shade. He also had a tuft of fur that looked like some soft of hair-do on his head with also the same dark brown shade.

Feeling rather irked that she got the child snatched away from her JUST when she got it back, Taura was about to claw the mammoth's trunk off, but it seemed that Diego decided to butt in at this moment.

Diego suddenly dashed in from behind her and attacked the mammoth, growling, by trying to swipe at him. The mammoth didn't seem to take kindly to that action and growled back at him even louder and deeper with narrowed eyes while clutching the baby around its waist using his trunk. Diego, growling even louder, was about to attack again when he was interrupted by Taura's voice inside his head:

_"Woah there, I know that we just got the baby back, but there is no way we'll be able to take down the mammoth with just the two of us!"_

Diego looked back to find Taura sitting on her haunches rather than his crouched position, ready to pounce and claw the annoying pachyderm's face off. She had a calm expression, but she was glaring at Diego as if warning him to back down. He huffed irritably towards her before coughing into his paw and gesturing towards the child in the mammoth's clutches.

"Um, that pink thing is ours." Diego said, while trying to put on a small friendly smile.

The mammoth looked at him skeptically with one of his eyebrows raised, but before he could reply, his sloth friend interrupted: "Uh no, actually that pink thing belongs to us!" No sooner did he say that did he start to awkwardly tumble down the walls, Taura wincing pitifully each time his face hit either side before he finally landed on the floor face-first. She noticed that when he spoke, he did it with a lisp, as if he had a mouthful of food.

"'Us'? You two are a bit of an odd couple..." Diego drawled with one eyebrow raised, while Taura tried to stifle her laughter by covering it up with a cough. Well THIS is a first: a sloth and a mammoth gay couple...the Ice Age just never ceases to amaze her...

"There is no 'us'!" the mammoth finally spoke as he glared at his companion, you couldn't really tell the scowl on his face since his large trunk covers up the bottom half of it. Diego just ignored himand continued to taunt.

"I see, can't have one of your own so you're planning to adopt..."

The sloth started to cautiously drag the baby towards him by the back of his collar with a sheepish bucktoothed smile on his face. What he said next though took both cats by surprise: "Look I'm sorry to interrupt this snack with your date, but we gotta go,"

The two gave each other sideways glances, before Taura finally spoke with a deadpanned expression:_ "Could you please et this over with before I lose it and tear up his intestines to choke him with it?"_

It wasn't the first time people assumed that they were both...intimate. So after a while of people always making that assumption, Taura just ended up getting real pissed about it and ended up either A) beating the crap out of them or B) sending her death threats towards Diego telepathically.

Diego rolled his eyes before scoffing: "Number one: not my date, and Number two: I was returning the baby to his herd."

"Oh-ho yeah, nice try bucktooth!" The sloth guffawed with a sardonic grin as he continued to drag the baby to the mammoth's side. Taura scoffed at his comment, _"And HE'S one to talk!"_ glancing at his disorientated front teeth. Diego nearly smirked at her comment, but fought it off as he leaped towards the sloth.

"You callin' me liar?" Diego threatened with a sneer that showed off his fangs, making him seem even more intimidating. He put his face up close to the sloth's, his high leverage on the ledge making it easy for him. The sloth tried to lean his head back by bending his neck away from the tiger, his eyes taking a frightened look.

"I didn't say that!" He defeneded himself quickly, while trying to avoid eye contact by glancing at random objects.

"You were thinkin' it!" Diego glowered while trying to hold off the satisfied smirk at the sloth's terrified expression.

The sloth turned his head towards the mammoth and whispered not too softly, "I don't like this cat, he reads minds!". Taura raised one of her eyebrows at that comment whilst grinning mischievously. Hmm...how long would it take for him to notice that they ALL sabers were telepathic?

_"Probably a lo~ong time until he does..."_ Diego's voice rang in her head, which caused her to start in surprise and glance at him with wide eyes. Diego sent her a confidential and small wink before standing up away from the sloth and looking towards the mammoth.

"Name's Diego and Taura friend," He introduced themselves, whilst trying to appear friendly. He only ended up with a tight-lipped smile.

"Manfred," The mammoth, or rather 'Manfred', gruffly said, "And I'm not your friend."

"Fine...'Manfred'," Diego sneered with a taut expression, his narrowed eyes following the sloth as he picked up the baby and waddled away behind Manfred. "If you're looking for the humans, you're wasting your time," Diego continued, "They left this morning."

"Thanks for the advice, now beat it!" Manfred said, keeping a very straight poker-face. The only thing that could have given away what he was thinking was his narrowed and suspicious eyes that glanced back and forth from Diego to Taura. He then turned his head towards his smelly companion and reluctantly grumbled, "Alright, I'll help you bring it to its herd, but promise me you'll leave me along after that!"

"Okay, Okay, Deal! What's your problem?" The Sloth complied.

Whatever the bickering chickens said next was lost to Diego's ears, as he was too busy seething and glaring holes at Manfred's back. Taura caught a glimpse of something or other about Manfred's fur being all poof-y (So probably wasn't fat...PROBABLY...), but got distracted by the baby waving back at them with an adorably clueless face. She couldn't help but wave back with a small grin that showed off some of her teeth.

* * *

"I told you that they were gone,"

What with Diego being persistent, they both followed them back up at the camp. The place seemed barren and tattered from the fighting that commenced here: tents were tattered, spears were left lying around everywhere and the firewood was still burning fresh from this morning. Manny hadn't been to a lot of human camps, but the mess seemed rather suspicious even to him. The sloth didn't seem to notice as he was too busy being slapped in the face by random tools left on the floor as he chased the baby, which Taura desperately tried not to giggle at.

"Oh look who it is," Manny drawled with a roll of his eyes, "Don't you two have some poor, defenseless animal to disembowel ?"

They were randomly interrupted by the sloth when he waddled near them in a strange position in which he was staring closely at the floor as he randomly pointed at Different directions. "Well they couldn't have went far...maybe they went this way...o-or this way, or, uh..." He randomly stuttered. He was about to run into another tool lying across him and Taura decided that he had had enough and placed a paw in front of his face. The sloth looked up at her questioningly, to which she replied by shoving the tool away from him. It took him a second to realize what she did, but afterwards he sent her a toothy grin that showed off his wonky teeth.

"Thanks!" He beamed, Taura copied his smile as if to say 'you're welcome'.

"You don't know much about tracking, do you?" Diego remarked sarcastically, ignoring the friendly counter between the two.

The sloth shrugged as he grabbed a twig and snapped it into two. "Hey I'm a sloth, I see a tree, eat a leaf," he pointed his head towards the leaf sticking out of one of his twigs, "That's my tracking!"

"You didn't miss them by much," Diego muttered as he picked up another twig while Taura sniffed at it, "Still green...they headed north two hours ago." Taura nodded her head eagerly along with a bright smile as if confirming his theory.

Sid with a cheeky grin randomly placed the two twigs on either side of his mouth, which created a similar image of the sabers on both Smilodons. "Still green, they headed north two hours ago!" Sid imitated with a ridiculously deep voice and shaking his head like some pompous being. Taura desperately tried to stifle her giggles by placing her paw over her mouth, but Diego was still able to hear her clearly which caused him to twitch his ear in irritation. Taura immediately stopped when she received a very heated glare from him, but still had to bite her lip to keep from smiling.

The baby, who was inside the basket, laughed and gurgled at the sloth but suddenly slipped and fell on the handle of a spoon that acted like a catapult and shot a fish directly at Manny's face. This time, Taura couldn't hold it in and guffawed out a short chortle at Manny's blank and irked face before finally holding it back in.

"You don't need his aggravation," Diego said as he walked closer to the child. Manny didn't say anything, the fish sliding down his face until it finally flopped onto the floor. "Give me the baby, I can track humans faster than you can," Diego recommended, dragging the baby towards him with what he must have thought was a reassuring smirk.

Manny snorted and sarcastically said "And you two are just good citizens trying to help out huh?" as he dragged the baby back towards him.

Diego frowned and dragged the baby back to him "Me and Taura just know where the humans are,"

"Glacier Pass," Manny said without missing a beat, as if it was a very obvious fact. They three looked at where Manny gestured to and sure enough, there was the familiar sight of two large marble Glaciers, reaching out towards each other and encircling the entire area around them. "Everyone knows that they have a settlement on the other side," Manny explained as he dragged the baby back to thought that Diego would have given up by then, but he was even more persistent and stubborn than she thought!

"Well unless you know how to track, you'll never reach it before the Pass closes up with snow," Diego remarked with a smug smirk, "Which should be like... tomorrow?" He then shrugged his shoulders and remarked innocently "So you can give that baby to me, or get lost in the blizzard, its your choice..."

Manny looked at the two sabers, then at the baby, then back at them both. He seemed to be contemplating the idea, until finally he picked up the baby with his trunk. Diego thought that he was going to drop it to him, but when his trunk went past him AND Taura, he plunked it back into the Sloth's arms. Diego and Taura both shared a confused glance before looking back up at Manny questioningly.

"Here's your little bundle of joy, we're returning it to the humans." Manny simply stated before heading off.

The Sloth glanced happily back at Manny before grinning smugly at the two sabers and started to stroke their noses teasingly one at a time. "Aw, the big bad tigey wigey's gets left behind! Poor tigey wigey's!" He cooed, seeming to gain pleasure from the annoyed glares that were staring at him. Well, Taura glared at him, but Diego was giving him the evil eye of death that would've burnt toast.

"Sid," Manny called out, "The two tigery wigeys are going to lead the way."

Sid stood there shocked with wide terrified eyes at the realisation, his smug expression wiped clean off his face. Diego smirked evilly at the sloth while Taura grinned mischievously with an impish gleam in her eyes._ "Oh we're gonna have so~o much fun with him!"_ She cackled mentally, which only caused Diego's smirk to widen even more. The Sloth started to hurriedly waddle back to Manny.

"Uh M-Manny, Manny!" He called out while he stuttered, "C-can I talk to you for a sec-"

"No." Manny interrupted while glaring back at him, "The sooner we find the humans, the sooner we get rid of Mr. Stinky-drool-face," Sid glanced down at the human child in his arms, thinking that he was talking about him, "And the baby too." Manny finished; you could hear the hint of amusement in his voice when he said that as he walked away.

Diego started to stalk towards the sloth as he stared helplessly at Manny's retreating back, like a predator would with his tapped prey, Taura following his steps a few feet away.

"You won't always have jumbo here to protect you," Diego taunted as he circled the sloth, who stood frozen with wide terrified eyes at the saber, "And when that day comes, I suggest you watch your back," He then leaned closer to the sloth's ear and deepened his voice, "'Cuz I'll be chewing on it!" And then marched away with satisfaction.

Taura stood there next to the sloth and watched Diego's retreating back._ 'Is it just me...or did he kind of sound sexy just then?'_ She pondered, but made sure to block Diego from hearing it. Lord knows what would happen considering his ego was big enough and didn't need anymore boosting!

The Sloth still stood there petrified with the oblivious, gurgling child in his arms. He then finally squeaked out:

"Help...me..."


	4. How to Stop the Wailing

**Awesome! We're now finally on the road trip with the famous trio! Or rather, the famous quartet cuz...y'know, Taura's involved. Anywho, hope u guys liked that last long chapter, got a triple amount of views from that, so YAY! XD Decided 'Meh, whatdaheck, make this one long as well!  
**

**Anywho, Here are the replies to ur reviews:  
**

**(HINT HINT: MORE REVIEWS, QUICKER UPDATE! *WINKWINK*)**

**some1 u dont no: First of all, thank you for having the decency to at least say that the story is good. I'll respect ur opinion that Diego is better off with Shira, but if my 'fucking female bitch' pisses you off so much, then just don't read the fucking story! **

**GoldenSaber: Yay! Glad to know that you're starting to like her! And I tried to keep it descriptive without rambling a bit too much, so glad to know that u liked that as well! Hope u like this chapter!  
**

**TimberPaw: Well, it would kind of make sense that all sabers can communicate with each other telepathically, as it would help them communicate during hunting and stuff. Plus, it would have been rather difficult for me to add in Taura in the stories if she had no way of somehow telling Diego her funny remarks. I really hope I finish the first movie soon, can't wait for my Ice Age 2 chapters, that movie's my fave! :D Hope u like this chapter  
**

**Btw, _Italics_ means telepathic communication.**

**Warning: OC pairing, Don't like, DON'T READ!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own the Ice Age franchise or any of the characters in it; that all belongs to Blue Sky**

* * *

After a while of walking through various valleys, Taura was able to find out more about the duo that they were going to be traveling with. The sloth's name was Sid and he was by far the most smelliest and bad tasting thing she had ever come across. (And as for the taste, she found out the hard way by biting him for making a bad pussy-cat joke) Apparently his family ditched him when they left for migration (to which she replied by patting him sympathetically on the back and sending him a small grin as if saying 'it happens to the best of us') and he just happened to coincidentally bump into Manny while being chased by a pair of rhinos. His overall attitude consisted of two things: simplicity and clueless optimism. Ah well, you know what they say: 'Ignorance is Bliss'. It kind of made Taura wonder how he survived for this long and not get eaten by a predator?! Maybe mother nature had its favourites? Doubtful, considering his stench smelled like something WAY out of mother nature's league. So maybe he was REALLY lucky?

With Manny...well, he didn't really say much. In fact, sometimes she even wondered whether HE was also mute. All he did throughout the entire walk was stare at the road ahead of them and occasionally glance at her and Diego, as if to check that they weren't up to any mischief or something. _"I beg to differ!"_ Taura scoffed mentally, _"I don't ALWAYS have a tendency to get up to no good!"_ Diego snorted at that comment with a roll of his eyes, like he was saying 'As if!' The one thing that Taura DID learn about the mammoth was that if there was a Nobel prize for 'Longest Grouchy Face' or 'The Moodiest Creature on the Planet' , Manny would win it by a long shot!

They were now currently walking through a sandy terrain with rocky landscapes on either side of the, capped with random piles of snow. And Taura didn't think that there was any other moment in her life where she had the urge to rip someone's private parts and shove them down their throat any bigger than she did now. The baby had been crying for THREE FRIGGIN' HOURS STRAIGHT! AND IT WAS STILL CONTINUING! They decided to ignore it for the first few minutes, but that just made the baby wail even LOUDER!

"You gotta make it stop!" Manny groaned, looking like he was about to cry in pain, "I can't take it anymore!"

"I've eaten things that didn't complain this much!" Diego snapped with an irritated scowl. Taura was shaking her head, as if the sound would go away by doing that. He ears were flat against her head and she was walking beside Sid but her paw was under the squirming and wailing baby to make sure that he didn't fall because Sid was holding him...UPSIDE-DOWN! _"Tell this goofball that he's holding the damn baby wrong!"_ Taura growled telepathically at Diego.

"He won't stop squirming!" Sid complained as the baby was trying to wiggle his way out of his arms while kicking the poor sloth in the face repeatedly.

"You're holding it wrong!" Diego yelled at him, quoting Taura as she nodded her head and growled at the clueless Sloth.

"Watch its head!" Manny yelled,

"Just put it down" Diego barked as he glowered in annoyance. Taura finally snapped and snatched the baby away from Sid by holding the back of it's collar with her teeth. She gave him hostile glare before walking away with the baby and placing it on some table-like rock structure whilst trying to hush it. All four of them circled the table and looked at the baby, trying to figure out what was wrong with it. Diego was looking at it with a frown, Sid was chewing on one of his clawed fingers, Taura had her lips pursed and her eyebrows furrowed with a contemplating look and Manny...well, Manny just had that same pained expression.

"Hey, its nose is dry!" Diego said, gesturing towards the baby's crying face.

Sid then pointed his chewed finger in the same direction, "That means something's wrong with him," he guessed.

"Someone should lick it, just in case!" Diego suggested, then looked towards Taura. _"Woah! Don't look at me, just because I'm the female of the group doesn't mean I'm gonna do all the gross stuff!"_ She huffed while glaring at him with a peeved look and shaking her head petulantly.

"I'll do it!" Sid said confidently while raising his hand.

"Hey, he's wearing one of those baby thingies!" Manny suddenly pointed out. The look of realization crossed across Taura's face, then followed by horror when she realized what they had to do and quickly shuffled away behind Diego while he gave her an amused smirk.

"So?" Sid said with his tongue sticking out, adding more of a lisp to his voice.

Manny rolled his eyes, "So if he poops, where does it go?"

Diego had a disgusted grimace while Taura giggled at the shocked expression that dawned on Sid's face. He then instantly tucked his tongue back into his mouth and put the baby away in arms reach with a sour expression.

" .Disgusting!" Sid said,

Manny ignored him and ordered "Okay you, check for poop!" while poking Sid on his shoulder.

"Hey, why am I the poop-checker?" Sid argued,

Manny then placed his large face directly next to Sid, looking seriously wrathful. "Because returning the runt was your idea, because you're small and insignificant and because I'll pummel you if you don't!" He seethed, leaning closer and closer towards Sid with each item he listed.

"...what else?" Sid stuttered,

"NOW SID!" Manny bellowed as Sid finally waddled away from him looking very terrified of what the mammoth would do if he didn't obey.

"Ew! Yuck! Eeww!" He whined as he unwrapped the makeshift diaper off the baby, "I mean my goodness! Alright, look out! Look out, coming through!" Sid started to shuffled awkwardly and swinging the sack of manure around clumsily.

"Hey watch out!" Manny shouted as he quickly pulled his trunk away in disgust.

When Taura saw him swinging the diaper towards them, she let out a sharp 'Eep!' before quickly ducking behind Diego. She had no intentions of getting poo thrown on her beautiful coat today!

"Stop waving that thing around!" Diego yelled at him as he quickly ducked away from the diaper that was swung at him.

"Ooh Ooh, I'm gonna slip!" Taura heard from behind Diego. She quickly peeked out in time to see Sid let go of the bag and saw it fly incoming towards Manny. She leaned forward in excitement, waiting for the sound of splatting poo and the funny sight of manure on the mammoth's face. Manny yelled out in fright as a...clean, cloth landed on him. Taura pouted in disappointment and placed her chin on Diego's back. _"Aw and I thought we were gonna have some entertainment for once!"_ She whined, causing Diego to roll his eyes at her and shoving her gently off his back.

"It's clean! Got ya!" Sid laughed triumphantly while grabbing the baby back into his arms.

Manny threw the cloth off his face and glowered at the prankster with choleric eyes before whacking him upside the head with his trunk. "Will you cut it out!" He snapped,

Sid held a funny face after he hit him, causing the baby to giggle for a moment. Sid shook his head and his face returned to normal; the baby then started to cry again.

"Hey do that again, he likes it!" Diego noticed, nodding towards the baby.

Manny repeated the action, which caused the same results to happen: Sid pulled a funny face, Baby then giggled but then started to cry again when it was over.

"It's making me feel better too!" Manny chuckled with an amused grin, Taura eagerly hopped up and down and raised her paw up with a beaming smile as if to say _'Ooh ooh, my turn!' _Diego shook his head at her with amusement and took a step back to let her have a go. Sid waddled towards the two groggily and held the crying baby towards them,

"Here, you hold it..." He said dizzily with a glazed expression. Taura instead whacked him upside the head with an amused grin, which caused him to pull the same face and make the baby giggle again. Instead of going back to crying, the baby tried to smack the sloth by waving its hand back and forth towards his face. Sid grabbed his hand with an annoyed expression and put it back on the table while it started to wail again.

"Here, turn it towards me!" Diego snapped while shoving the sloth away and standing in front of the baby with both his paws on either side of him on the table. Taura looked at him with a disturbed expression, thinking remorsefully _"Oh god, what's he gonna do now..?"_

"Where's the baby...There he is!" Diego said, covering his eyes and then pulling them away suddenly. Taura covered her mouth with her paw, trying not to laugh. Who would've thought? Diego was actually trying to play Peek-a-boo?! The baby did stop crying, but was looking at the saber above him with a clueless look, like he had no idea what he was trying to do.

"Where's the baby...THERE HE IS!" Diego pulled the same action but this time yelled the last sentence scarily, causing the baby to wail and squirm away from him in fear.

"Stop it! You're scaring him!" Manny yelled at him, shoving him away from the child. The sound of the baby's wails stopped and was replaced with a loud rumbling sound. The four of them looked towards the baby to find it staring at them innocently.

"I bet he's hungry!" Sid said, snapping his fingers. Taura rolled her eyes exasperatedly, of course! Why the heck didn't she see it before! She remembered back when she used to spy on the humans that the mothers would breastfeed them to stop them from crying. Taura tugged on Manny's leg to get his attention, he gave her a questioning look.

"What?" He gruffly said, Taura rolled her eyes at his great vocabulary. She pointed at the baby, towards herself and then towards some faraway place and made some circle gesture with her paw before padding away.

"Where is she going?" Manny asked no one in particular as he blinked at the female saber who randomly decided to run away. Did she finally get sick of the baby's crying or something.

"She said she's going to go ahead and look for some food," Diego explained while rubbing the shoulder that the mammoth not-gently-shoved.

* * *

_"Really? I can't leave you guys for one minute without you getting into some messed up situation?!" _Taura groaned at Diego, which caused him to look back at her in surprise. Taura walked up with a bunch of tomatoes hanging from a vine in her mouth to find the baby munching away happily at random chunks of melon on the floor. In front of them were a bunch of dodos who looked like they were doing random acrobatic moves like piling on top of each other or rolling around on the floor wailing. _"Is this some sort of dinner and a show?"_ Taura drawled with one eyebrow raised as she looked at Diego questioningly.

"You could say that..." Diego chuckled while shaking his head. Manny glanced at the two impassively, wondering if this weird telepathic conversation was an everyday thing for them before looking away with a roll of his eyes. _Cats..._

"Ooh! Where'd you get these?" Sid said ecstatically, grabbing one of the tomatoes and took a large bite out of it. Taura growled at him irritably and punched one of his stuffed cheeks, causing him to spew it all out again. Sid rubbed his now aching cheek while looking at the scowling feline with a bug-eyed expression. _"Tell the retard that the tomatoes are for the baby! He can go get his own!" _Taura growled while placing the vine in front of the baby.

Diego tried to keep his proud smirk at bay while he explained to the sloth "She says that it's not for you, it's for the baby,"

Sid formed an 'O' with his mouth before trying to pull off a cute puppy-dog face and placing his paws together underneath his cheek. "But can't I just have one?"

Manny rolled his eyes exasperatedly at the gluttonous sloth, "Forget it Sid, you've already spoiled one and we need to save as much as we can to keep the kid's mouth shut. Now let's move it!"

Sid started to pout but Taura didn't budge and glared at him with eyes that said 'Don't even think about it!' Sid picked up the baby in his arms again, now munching away greedily at the ripe tomatoes, and the quartet started on their journey again.

* * *

It was now night-time and the four find a nice spot with rocky structures that would keep the wind from hitting them during their sleep. Manny was lying down with the baby tucked away in his trunk, while Diego was sleeping a few feet away from him. Manny kept glancing at him suspiciously every now and again, as if he was waiting for him to suddenly pounce at the child. Taura was still awake; she was laying on her back and looking at the stars above, there was noway that she was going to be able to sleep tonight because the last thing she wanted was for the other two to catch her during one of her episodes. Her head was leaning against one of the rocks that the baby was lying on before; she was laying a few feet away from Diego. Soon afterwards, she was able to smell Sid coming back from his hunt for 'Spoils of a Worthy Noble Hero!' before she even heard his shuffling footsteps.

"Oh, the triumphant returns," Manny announced sarcastically with a smile,

"Huh?" Sid looked back as if he thought Manny was addressing someone else, but then remembered his glorious moment back at the Dodo HQ and started to chuckle, "Oh that! Hehehe, yeah." He then shuffled towards the same rock that Taura was leaning against. She gave him a small smile and shuffled away to give him room to sit. Sid started to pat his stomach still chuckling, "So full!" He then cooed "How about a goodnight kiss from your big buddy Sid?"

"Shh! He's asleep!" Manny hushed him,

"I was talking to you..." Sid grumbled, receiving a disgusted look from Manny; Taura started to giggle at the expression Manny pulled. "Fine I'll tuck myself in!" Sid huffed while dusting off the top of the rock. _"Aw.."_ Taura giggled, she pitied him and decided to humor him a bit by patting his head gently with a big grin. Hey, she was gonna humor him but there was no way she was putting her mouth anywhere near him! This was just her way of saying goodnight!

"Aw, thanks Taura!" Sid beamed at her, then huffed at Manny, "See? At least SHE is nice enough to say goodnight!"

Manny didn't reply and simply tried to ignore him by changing the baby's position slightly by shifting his trunk a bit. Sid shuffled on his back on the rock, his long neck causing his head to nearly touch the floor. He started making weird mewling and yawning sounds and started to shuffle a bit to make himself comfortable, making Taura remove her head from the rock and lie down on her front to give him room.

"Alright, Goodnight!" Sid yawned and finally slumped into what Taura and Manny assumed was sleep. They were mistaken when Sid instantly started to roll and shuffle around to try and get into a comfortable position. Taura didn't mind, considering that sloths were more used to sleeping on trees rather than rocks, but it was when he was starting to make annoying yawning and yelling sounds did it start to irk her.

"WILL YOU STOP IT!" Manny finally snapped, causing Sid to start and fall from his rock and onto Taura. She gave out a short yelp and shoved Sid off while glowering at him irritably. _"Damn that guy is heavy!"_ Taura huffed as she walked away and lay down next to Diego, finally deciding to give sleep a shot

"Alright Alright! Just trying to relax!" Sid whined as he finally settled to one position on the rock and started to suck his thumb.

"Alright..." Manny grumbled. He looked one last time at the two sabers, finding them both asleep, before finally letting his eyelids droop and falling into a deep slumber. Little did he know that one of the sabers was actually wide awake, and had his eyes wide open as soon as he let his guard down...


	5. Mud baths and Intimate Positions

**Oooh! Now the other sabers come into the pic! Here's another update and I hope again that I didn't make any of the other characters OOC. So guys, for the next chapter, I'm going to make a special one-shot chapter because we have reached over 10 reviews! XD AWESOME! Now here are the three options u can choose from, but unfortunately I can't make a poll on my profile so you'll have to vote through ur reviews:  
**

**A) A flashback of Diego and Taura's times in the pack**

**B) A one-shot of Taura playing with the possums (crash n' eddie) and having a funny conversation (e.g. about Diego or somethin')**

**C) An adorable one-shot of Taura trying to babysit Roshan**

**Anywho, Here are the replies to ur reviews cuz u guys are super:  
**

**(HINT HINT: MORE REVIEWS, QUICKER UPDATE! *WINKWINK*)**

**Yeeeaaah: Thank you, nice to know that u like Taura! I was kinda worried that she would be similar to other OCs, so again, Thank you!  
**

**Shiego627: Well it's a good thing she won't be the only female for long, if we can get this through to Ice age 2 eventually! :) And here's the next chapter, hope u like it!  
**

**TimberPaw: Firstly: remind me to get u a one-shot someday for u cuz u r just one of my best reviewers! XD Secondly: Thank you, nice to know that u find her funny! And no, Sid was never destined to sleep like a normal animal. Heck, 'Normal' isn't even in his vocabulary! Hope this update came soon enough for you and hope its as good enough quality as you said for the others.  
**

**Btw, _Italics_ means telepathic communication.**

**Warning: OC pairing, Don't like, DON'T READ!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own the Ice Age franchise or any of the characters in it; that all belongs to Blue Sky**

* * *

Diego's eyes flashed open to reveal two glowing emerald orbs. He looked over to Taura and nudged her shoulder, trying to wake her up. Taura's lid peeled open reluctantly to reveal a similar glowing iris, but it instead of emerald it was golden.

"It's time isn't it?" Taura muttered quietly, without removing her head from her folded paws; Diego nodded his head in confirmation and got up. Taura sighed "Alright, let's get it over with. I know this might sound weird, but I'm kinda gonna miss those two..." She got up and ignored the disbelieving stare from Diego. "You go get the baby and I'll watch."

Diego stared at her for a bit longer and then walked away towards the baby clutched within the mammoth's grasp. Taura stood on her haunches a few feet away and waited for him to finish. She wasn't kidding when she said that she was going to miss the duo. Sid somehow grew on her with his awkward shuffling and idiotic optimistic comments; she would probably miss him just for the laughs that he provides. What can she say? After living a long time with Diego's cocky and arrogant character, you miss having some laughs. _"Especially from a guy who claims repeatedly that he's got a girlfriend with the same colored pelt!"_ Taura chuckled in her mind. She didn't know much about which sloth would be considered handsome, but she definitely knew that his claims of being a heartthrob among the ladies were definitely false. As for Manny, she would probably miss annoying him by trying to communicate with sign language and then end up confusing him in the end.

Suddenly, Taura caught a shift of movement in the dried bushes. She narrowed her eyes at the general direction she saw the movement and waited a while to see if her suspicions were true.

"Psst...Diego!" Taura whispered towards him harshly, her voice causing Manny's trunk to tighten around the child. Diego growled inaudibly in frustration and marched towards her.

"What?!" He rumbled lowly with an annoyed expression. Taura didn't reply but nodded her head towards where she saw the bushes shift. Diego looked ahead in the general direction Taura gestured to and waited. Again, the bushes shifted ever-so-slightly. Diego and Taura both shared a glance before they crouched into a pouncing position and waited a while. Finally, in almost synchronized rhythm, they both leaped with a roar and crashed unto their supposed stalker. Diego was about to claw off the stranger's face below him, until he found out that their stalkers weren't exactly strangers...

"What the-" Diego whispered in shock,

"Go ahead, slice me! It'll be the last thing you ever do!" Zeke threatened, not looking very intimidating from his cowering position.

"I'm working here you waste of fur!" Diego growled back,

"First-rated Diego," Oscar called out. Diego looked back to find Taura pushing Oscar away from her and getting back to her feet. When she jumped over, she managed to collide into Oscar, but ended up beneath him because of her smaller frame. "Tracking down a helpless infant's too difficult for you two?" Oscar jeered while smirking mockingly at Diego, who eventually got off of Zeke.

_"What're you doing here Oscar? Don't you have some ass-kissing to do back at Half Peak for Soto?"_ Taura grinned slyly, while Oscar sent her a wrathful glare.

"There won't be a Half Peak for you two to come back to if you keep Soto waiting anymore!" Oscar fumed with gritted teeth,

"Yeah, Yeah!" Zeke cackled eagerly, "He said 'Come back with the baby, or DON'T COME BACK AT ALL!"

Diego's face remained stoic as he replied impassively, "Well I have a message for Soto. Tell him, I'm bringing the baby," He then started to walk back to where the others where the others were sleeping with Taura. "And tell him I'm bringing...a mammoth!" Diego smirked, looking over his shoulder at the other two that were left slack-jawed at what he said.

"A mammoth?!" Zeke gasped,

"Mammoth's never travel alone!" Oscar argued with an annoyed scowl,

Diego and Taura walked up to the very top of the hill overlooking the area where Manny and Sid were sleeping and crouched down, followed by Oscar and Zeke. "Well this one does," Diego assured, "And I'm leading him to Half Peak."

"Mmmm..." Zeke shivered manically, as Taura looked at him with a cautious expression. The last thing they needed was some meat-crazed rat waking up Manny and causing him to go on a rampage! "Look at all that meat...LET'S GET HIM!" Zeke pounced, but was cut off by Taura.

_"Not yet you fleabag! It'll take the entire pack to take this mammoth down!"_ Taura snarled at him menacingly, showing off her sharp fangs as if threatening him to disagree with her.

Diego nodded in agreement, "Like Taura said, we'll need the WHOLE pack, so go and get everyone ready!" Diego looked back towards the mammoth, but the two idiots didn't leave still. He glared back at them and growled sharply "NOW!" which caused Zeke to scurry away, while Oscar huffed at him indignantly before walking off.

Diego and Taura walked back to the sleeping area and tried to get back to sleep.

"Diego..." Taura whispered, causing Diego to open his eyes and look back at her.

"Yeah?"

"...nothing, forget about it," Taura turned her back towards him and tried to get back to sleep. It seemed like an impossible task since her mind was full of so many thoughts. In the beginning of all this, Taura was in it to avenge her brother and get payback against the humans. Now they were getting Manny and Sid involved and they had nothing to do with it. Sure, they might need the extra slab of meat for the next long winter coming up, but they could've just used Oscar and Zeke to grab something from the big walking buffet migration.

Needless to say, all these self-questioning thoughts didn't help Taura get much sleep that night...

* * *

"OH NO! TIGERS! HELPuh! HELPuh!"

Apparently Sid thought that it would be a good idea to steal the baby for one of his dates. Outside were a bunch of hot springs filled with some icky, green substance that the sloths used to marinate themselves in (_"Yeesh! Now I know where half of Sid's stench comes from!"_ Taura grumbled the first time she saw one of them). Manny got really angry and sent Diego and Taura off to go look for the idiot only to find him panting like he was running from the devil himself and then suddenly acting out some one-act play of calling out in distress for help.

"Where's the baby?" Diego growled at Sid, not really caring what kind of drama Sid was playing out.

"Oh he's fine Manny's got him justputmeinyourmouthHURRY!" Sid whispered very quickly, Diego and Taura barely making out the words. He then continued to cry out dramatically "OOH! THEY GOT ME! OoOoOoOHHH HELP!"

Diego glanced at him with a disturbed expression before turning away from the weird-acting sloth. "Get away from me,"

Taura was about to walk off with him until she heard a distant rumbling far off. Sid looked around desperately with panic-stricken eyes until an idea clicked in his head. He grabbed Taura by her shoulders and gave her an apologetic look, "I'm really sorry for this!" He whispered and then shoved her really hard and caused her to collide with Diego...

* * *

The rhinos charged as fast as they can around the corner into what they thought would be the doom of their punchbag, only to be met with a much more...surprising sight...

Instead, they found a Smilodon couple in the middle of the clearing. A male with a golden coloured pelt had his female with a brown and beige coat lying trapped underneath him, and both were in a very...intimate, looking position. The two sabers stared at them in shock, both finally realizing what this must've looked like. The two rhinos stood there just as shocked.

"Uh, Pardon! Don't mind us, we didn't know that you two were...uh..." One of the rhinos with the greyish skin stuttered whilst blushing very furiously,

"Y-yeah..we'll just uh, we'll just go now!" The other one stumbled whilst hurriedly shoving his friend away as he tried to run away from this awkward moment as soon as possible, all thoughts of murdering the sloth gone.

The two felines stood there frozen for a while, as if not believing what just happened, until a familiar lisping voice broke the silence:

"Phew! Thanks you guys, I owe you a big one!" Sid chuckled nervously, until he noticed that they were still frozen in that position and added in with a teasing grin, "Y'know, you two look like an adorable couple!"

Diego blinked in surprise when he realized what the sloth said. He then suddenly pounced on Sid and clutched his neck in his mouth whilst growling and looking very pissed off. Taura was still frozen, looking up at the sky. Her beige fur made her flushed face stand out making her seem even more flustered. _"Oh God...Did that just happen...?"_ Taura started to stand, but instead of looking flustered, she had a mortified glaze in her eyes that clearly stated 'I'm never going to live this down!' She then heard large mammoth footsteps head towards them and looked up to find Manny with the baby in his trunk, lifting a little weight off her shoulders.

"Guys, I thought we were in a hurry!" Manny called out, "And Diego, spit that out. You don't know where it's been."

Diego complied and dropped the sloth's neck. Taura decided to shuffle after Manny before letting Diego see her still pink-tinted cheeks. Said Saber eventually caught up with them, the trio ignoring the lazy sloth's calls for them to slow down.


	6. Shortcuts and Ice-Slides

**Okay, normally I would summaries the following chapter and reply to your reviews, but I would like to say a few things to some1 u dont no before continuing. I would like to apologize to other reviewers who would rather I use this space to write more for my story, but I would first like to address some of the things this particular reviewer has written these past few days: **

**First of all: I completely agree that u r entitled to ur own opinion and that u r allowed to express it. If u believe that my character is a 'f #king female b #ch', then yes, that is ur opinion and we won't be able to change it. If there are any other viewers out there who also believe that my character is annoying and that I should 'pipe the f #k down with that s #t', and they outnumber the possible few who like this story, then please say so and I will delete it. **

**Secondly: I will not however just suddenly stop this story just because only ONE person reviews twice about how annoying my character is when I have 15 other reviews asking me to continue this story. I am not trying to sound cocky or anything, but if u think about it, that would be one of the logical reasons as to why I would continue.**

**Thirdly: 'Open and up front' does not mean cussing in every single sentence that u write and insulting other reviewers and the character of the story, because it certainly doesn't get ur message across more effectively and it certainly won't make me 'pipe the f #k down'.**

**And finally: And like I said before, if u really hated this story just as much as u say u do and prefer the Shira/Diego pairings, then please just do yourself a favor and go look at stories with Shira/Diego in them! Don't bother reading mine if you're only going to write hate reviews on it, because you would just be wasting ur time.**

**Again, I apologize to the other reviewers who waited patiently for this update and took the time to review this story, you guys are just the best! And as for the poll: so far the majority of you asked for the back story of Diego and Taura's time in the pack. I have officially posted the poll on my profile I think, but if it's not there, then just vote by reviewing or PM. I'll also wait for more reviews after this chapter and then give you my answer when I post the next one.  
**

**Btw, _Italics_ means telepathic communication**

**Warning: OC pairing, Don't like, DON'T READ!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own the Ice Age franchise or any of the characters in it; that all belongs to Blue Sky**

* * *

_"Well, this is by far the most weirdest road trip I've ever had..."_

Taura and Diego were currently scouting ahead on a large snow dune, beside them a large wall of ice that encircled the entire area and connected with the main monument for Glacier Pass. There was the occasional sharp edge of dark coal-like rock that jutted out of the marble-like structures every now and then. The sun was high in the sky, making the snow on the hills and cliffs sparkle like someone sprinkled a layer of diamonds on them.

After the awkward situation back at the springs, Diego just remained indifferent to it, as if nothing had happened. It only took a few minutes (and angry punches thrown at Sid) for the embarrassment to fade away for Taura, but she just desperately hoped that the rhinos wouldn't find it a good story to spread. She did have a reputation among her pack to uphold and the last thing she needed was some annoying Oscar humiliating her every chance he got.

And as for the 'weirdest road trip' comment...no one could have said it any better than Taura did. At first, it was just a boring walk through the valleys that started to coat with layers of snow, but they did stop at a random geyser to enjoy watching Sid fly up into the air after making the mistake of sitting on it. Then there was the annoying poke-fight in the back between Sid and the baby that Taura was assigned to stop, but then somehow ended up in her chasing after Sid whilst calling him the most colorful names that would've made a sailor blush. For those who might be wondering: How did such a thing happen? Well, let's just say that Sid involuntarily 'invited' Taura along in the poke-fight by accidentally poking her one good eye.

After that and the occasional snowball thrown at Manny (courtesy of Sid), Diego managed to convince them into moving forward into the same direction of Half Peak, but with an unfortunate obstacle: ice. They all had to try skating themselves across which didn't turn out so well for our three four-legged companions. Sid passed the challenge with flying colors, skating and spinning around them like a ballerina as he teased his stumbling friends, being the big showoff that he was. Of course, karma was able to come just in time and dealt with Sid like, as they all say, a bitch. The trio managed to get off the ice eventually and watched in amusement as Sid tried to get his head unstuck from the wall that he crashed into.

Taura thought that Diego would've memorized the way to Half Peak, but the quartet eventually ran into a crossroad. There was some weird half squirrel, half rat...thing that tried to bury its nut who was coincidentally in the area, but Diego didn't want to ask for directions. Not wanting to wait until one of those two big males decided to lower themselves from their male pride, Taura went and asked for directions from the weird...Scrat. Somehow, it went from asking directions to a game of charades that went downhill when Diego decided that the Scrat was giving away too much information and sent the poor nut scavenger flying away with a flick of his fingers.

And so, a snowball fight and a chilling blizzard later, Diego and Taura managed to stumble across the same humans that they fought back at the valley whilst scouting ahead. They were traveling down on a snowy hill below them, all walking in a single file with their dogs.

_"Diego, we've gotta do something quick,"_ Taura warned as she looked around desperately whilst trying thinking of some spontaneous plan. _"If we don't, the guys will eventually spot them!"  
_

"Yeah, you think I haven't noticed?!" Diego growled at her in annoyance whilst looking back at Manny, who was coming into view now, in panic. Taura ignored his irked tone and spotted a large hollow entrance in one of the black rock walls. She nudged her panicking companion and nodded towards the entrance eagerly; Diego's mouth formed an 'O' shape in realization and quickly ran towards Manny to stall him.

Taura looked at his retreating form with a frown, _"'Gee, thanks a lot Taura, I may not have been able to notice that!' Hey! No problem Diego, that's what pals are for!"_ She sarcastically said in her head with a roll of her eyes as she ran off to catch up with him.

"Hey!" Diego called out, catching Manny's attention, "Great news: we found a shortcut!"

The baby on top of Manny's head stumbled and slid down his trunk. Manny quickly caught it upside down and put it back on top while giving both sabers a skeptical look. "What do you two mean 'shortcut'?"

"I mean faster than the long way around..." Diego drawled while rolling his eyes, as if speaking to an idiot.

"Ow! I know what a shortcut is!" Manny winced as the baby somehow fell over his head again and tried to crawl back up his face by clinging onto random tufts of his head-fur.

"Look, either we slip through there and beat the humans to Glacier Pass or we can take the long way and miss 'em!" Diego explained, gesturing towards the hollow entrance on the cave wall.

"Through there?" Manny questioned, pointing his trunk at the entrance and then giving the two sabers a suspicious look, "What do you take me for?"

Diego ignored his comment and continued, "This time tomorrow, you could be a free mammoth," And then started to smirk slightly when he saw the baby tugging painfully at the poor mammoth's eyelid while said mammoth tried to peel him off. "Or Manny, personally I never get tired of Peek-a-boo." He remarked innocently with a shrug of his shoulders. Taura noticed that their favorite sloth wasn't behind the mammoth and found him walking towards them with half an icicle on each paw. _"Where did he even get those?"_ Taura pondered with a tilt of her head, a look of disgust then came across her face, _"Oh god, please don't make it the same icicles that he grew from his nose in the blizzard!"  
_

"Hey guys, Hey guys, check this out!" Sid called out excitedly, placing both halves on either side of his neck, making it look like it was pierced by an icicle, and started to create faking choking sounds while stumbling around like he was on the verge of death. Normally, Taura would've laughed at the obviously fake act, but she was too exhausted from the really long walk and too worried about Manny catching sight of the humans below. (They should've been gone by now, but you can never be too careful)

Manny finally caught the baby and decided to hold it by its collar. "Sid, the tigers found a shortcut." Manny stated, pointing towards the entrance. Sid looked up at what he thought was the direction Manny pointed at and found large and dangerously low-hanging jagged stalactites hanging on the edges of the cliff.

"No thanks, I choose life!" He blurted while walking away, but was cut off by Diego, his nose a few mere inches from his.

"Then I suggest you take the shortcut!" Diego said in a dangerously low voice with narrowed eyes.

Sid narrowed his eyes at him too and wagged his finger at him, "Are you threatening me?"

"MOVE SLOTH!" Diego roared, his voice echoing throughout the entire valley. Suddenly, the four of them heard a loud rumbling and looked up to find the icy stalactites falling off the edge of the cliff and crumbling towards them.

"Way to go tiger..." Sid sarcastically congratulated with dry humor, while patting Diego's head.

"Quick, inside!" Manny ordered, running towards the hollow entrance, the other trio hot on his heels. They all went inside to find ANOTHER ceiling with dangerously sharp stalactites hanging above them and shaking alarmingly. When they turned back towards the exit, they found the entire crack covered with giant blocks of ice and rubble. Taura looked up in alarm at the ceiling and sure enough, the rumbling finally ceased and so did the shaking of the stalactites.

"Okay..I vote shortcut..." Manny muttered as he turned back into the tunnels, Taura nodding her head along with him. _"You and me both!" _She sighed. As they all turned back into the tunnels, they heard one last 'CRASH!' behind them before the last source of light behind them shut.

* * *

Since they had no idea where to go, the quartet simply took whichever path they fount first and stuck with it. Like the entrance, the cave was long and hollow. The entire chamber had a triangular shape to it and the two sides would meet together high above their heads. There were a few cracks here and there which let light seep through to the icy floors, lighting up the path while they wandered.

"C'mon guys, stick together. It's easy to get lost in here," Diego sighed as he eyed the cave walls cautiously and walked closer to Taura. She raised one of her eyebrows at his action and rolled her eyes. She could've sworn she heard Sid bump into something, but passed it off as one of his clumsy slips or something.

_"I CAN take care of myself you know?"_ Taura remarked with an exasperated frown at Diego.

He looked over at her with impassive eyes and shrugged his shoulders, "I know, but no such thing as being too careful,"

Before Taura could reply with some witty remark, she heard Sid call out faintly: "Uh..Guys!", his lisping voice echoing around the cave walls. Taura twitched her left ear and tried to hear him again, looking at Diego with worried eyes. _"Did you hear that?"_ Taura asked anxiously, _"It sounded like Sid.."_

Diego simply rolled his eyes, "Probably found some mushroom or something, don't worry about it."

Manny looked at the two with a confused expression while trying to keep the baby from wiggling around too much. What was it with those two? He did find out eventually that Taura was a mute of some sort, but how was Diego able to tell what she was saying? It was like he can tell whatever question she had to ask just by looking at her facial expression or something.

Manny coughed conspicuously to grab their attention, "Ahem-Ahem...so, what is it with you two?"

The two sabers looked up at him questioningly, having no clue what he was talking about. Manny rolled his eyes and continued, pointing his trunk at Taura "You don't talk at all..." then pointed his trunk at Diego "So how can YOU understand her? It's like you two are psychic or something..."

Taura chortled a bit at what he just said, _"And he doesn't know that he hit the nail right on the head!"_ She giggled to Diego while he smirked with an amused expression shaking his head. Manny glared at them for a bit, having no idea what was so funny to the two felines until he remembered a while back when they first met; how Diego read Sid's mind to accuse him of thinking that he was a liar.

"Ah," Manny grumbled, "So you are psychic..."

Taura didn't reply but turned to look at him with an amused grin and shook her closed fist three times as if saying: 'Ding Ding Ding! We have a Winnah!" Diego rolled his eyes at her childish antics and continued walking ahead, making sure that he was still close to her. Taura suddenly heard the familiar shuffling footsteps of their favorite sloth and let out a relieved sigh. _"For a minute there, I actually thought the idiot got lost..."_ Not that she would care or anything! Just that he was a...loveable idiot...who might be missed...just by a smidge.

"Will you keep up please?" Manny snapped at Sid exasperatedly, "It's hard enough to keep track of ONE baby!"

As soon as Manny said that, it seemed like the forces of jinx-ing decided to be cruel to them at that moment. They all found themselves on some form of ice slope, when they suddenly saw the baby slide across them, leap up, wave at them and hopped back down. They all stared at the blank space in silence until suddenly screaming in surprise: "AAH!"

They all looked down to find the baby spinning and sliding down the tunnel and soon all followed after him, screaming and yelling in fright. Somehow, whilst sliding down the ice, they ended up being separated into three different tunnels: Sid and the baby together, Diego by himself and Manny and Taura together. They both slid down a really steep slope, flew up into the air and fell back down with Taura clinging onto Manny's back in fright, her fur on end and screaming at the top of her voice.

Suddenly, Sid fell on top of Manny's head, followed by Diego who clung onto Manny's behind, causing Manny to yell out in pain. They all saw an incoming slope that suddenly rose up high, Sid yelling into Manny's trunk "Captain, ice berg ahead!" Taura gave him an incredulous look, _"WHY THE HECK IS HE DOING THAT NOW!? LIKE IT'LL MAKE A FREAKIN' DIFFERENCE!"_

They sharply rose up along the ice slope, slowing down at a very fast rate. Manny and his passengers all started to breath out and sigh in relief, until they heard the ice beneath then crack.

"Oh no..." Diego said, before they all started yelling at the top of their lungs again and crashing and sliding down onto the floor on the ice block, riding it like a sledge. Up ahead was a large area covered in spikes and jagged icicles that was coming towards them very fast. Taura widened her eyes in fright and then shut them tightly, waiting for the pain of falling to come until she heard a large scraping sound. Apparently, their ice block was smooth enough to glide through the spikes, melt into nothingness and cause the four of them to go back into sliding by themselves again. This time, they were all in their own separate lanes, with Manny last, Diego third, Taura second and Sid being the first closest to the baby upfront.

It made sense considering that the order was put in the same order of mass within the group; Taura was bigger than Sid, but only reached Diego's shoulders in length. She noticed the other two behind her started to crouch to reduce the air resistance hitting against them, and followed their example, trying to reach the baby before Sid. Sid tried to grab the baby, but missed by a mile, causing him to snap his fingers in frustration.

Suddenly, the baby went flying up in the air, squealing in delight. Manny shifted his large body so that he was turning his back to the giant wall that was incoming. Sid hit it first, followed by Taura, then Diego and finally Manny, resulting in a huge explosion of ice and snow.

When the ice and snow cleared, Manny and Sid were finally sitting still in the rubble, the baby now safely tucked in Manny's trunk, still giggling with mirth. Both of them had a ridiculous pile of snow on their heads with irked and exhausted expressions on their faces. Suddenly, Diego and Taura both hopped out of the snow, both grinning like idiots.

"Woah! Woohoo!" Diego whooped in excitement, punching Manny's shoulder and holding out his paw while exclaiming "Yeah! Who's up for round two?!"

Taura hopped up and down as she nodded her head with enthusiasm while wearing a shit-eating grin on her face as if saying 'Me, Me, Me!'. _"That was so awesome! Let's go again!"_ She giggled, before they both looked up to find their other two companions with expressions that clearly stated that they were not amused.

"Uh...ahem!" Diego coughed awkwardly, whilst looking away bashfully and suddenly finding the snow walls very interesting, "T-t-tell the kid to be more careful..."


	7. Cave Painting Memories

**Okay, so here's another chapter for you guys! I hope u still like it and blah blah blah and u know the rest. As for the poll results: 3 people asked for the flashback of Diego and Taura's times in the pack against one who voted for the one-shot of the funny discussion with Taura and the possums. So flashback one-shot it is!**

**Anywho, here are the replies to ur awesome reviews:**

**Shiego627: Hahaha, thank you! and yup, that's way Sid's such an awesome character! :) Here's the update, hope it was soon enough for ya!**

**Yeeeeaaaah: Thanks! Here's the next chappie for ya guys!**

**TimberPaw: Don't worry, that scene will happen now in this chapter! Hope u like it! Aw shucks! Nice to know that Taura is officially a favorite of someone's! And don't worry, Sid's idiocy will blossom throughout the entire story to keep us all happy!**

**GoldenSaber: Yup, it was bound to happen sooner or later, otherwise Manny might've burst a vein or something! Awesome to know that u like this story, here's another chapter!**

**Villain's Bad Girl: Yeah, I'll try to continue with this story throughout the entire franchise. Nice to know that u like the relationship between the two, hope it'll stay that way throughout the chapters I upload.**

**Btw, _Italics_ means telepathic  
**

**Warning: OC pairing, Don't like, DON'T READ!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own the Ice Age franchise or any of the characters in it; that all belongs to Blue Sky**

* * *

After dusting the snow off themselves, the famous quartet kept moving on while Taura tried to not snicker at the memory of Diego's excited face back at the ice-slides. She couldn't help herself after so many months of living with the guy, when the different expression other than his stoic face was either a cocky smirk or an annoyed scowl. To see him with that happy face, looking like he received an early birthday present, just made her giggle evilly and grin. _"Oh I am so going to tease him about this from years to come!"_ Taura snickered in her head, trying to keep a straight face whenever Diego looked at her with a confused frown.

Taura was disturbed from her thoughts when the four of them walked into a large, dome-like structure surrounding them. But when Taura caught sight of the walls, her eyes turned as wide as saucers. The cave walls around them were covered with hundreds of cave drawings, all telling stories of old.

Sid helped prove her point by pointing out eagerly at one of the drawings "Look, look! Tigers!" The baby started to wiggle away from the drawing of a pack of tigers hunting antelopes in fear, causing Sid to change his hold on him. "No no no, it's okay, it's okay," Sid shushed him quickly, "Look: the tigers are just playing tag with the antelope..." But then caught sight of one of the sketches where a tiger managed to catch one of the antelopes and sunk its teeth into its hide, "Um...with their teeth..." Sid corrected.

Diego then started to smirk slyly and walked up behind Sid, "C'mon Sid, let's play tag..." He taunted, then leaned in threateningly closer "You're it!"

Sid then started to chuckle nervously while stuttering out 'sure'. Taura rolled her eyes at Diego and jokingly scolded _"Diego, play nice!"_, which only caused him to smirk even further and wink mischievously at her to say 'no promises'. She shook her head at him and tried to fight of the grin that was crawling up her face, but unfortunately in vain. She continued to walk besides Manny and stared at the wondrous sketches of a diverse range of species. Until Sid pointed out a flaw within the architecture...

"Okay, where are the sloths?" Sid asked no one in particular as he scanned the walls for a familiar drawing of his kin, "You know, you never see any sloths in these things, have you ever noticed? OOH! Look Manny, a mammoth!"

"Oooh, somebody pinch me.." He sarcastically drawled with an amused smile, while Taura turned back to where Sid pointed out the said mammoth to have a closer look.

"Hey, this fat one looks just like you!" Sid pointed out as he placed the baby down, "Aw, and he's got a family!" Taura noticed at the corner of her eye Manny freezing his steps. "And he's happy! Look, he's playing with his kid!" Sid continued, whilst pointing out the different drawings he commentated on "See Manny? That's your problem, that's what mammoth's are supposed to do!" Sid rambled, wagging his finger at Manny who was now beside them and staring at the drawing, with a look of horror and nostalgia.

"Sid..." Diego tried to warn, now noticing the miserable look on Manny's face while Taura tried to poke Sid to get his attention.

Sid shook off her finger and continued while counting off the points on his fingers "Find a she-moth, have a little baby mammoth a-a-and..."

"Sid!" Diego whispered harshly, glaring at him.

Sid looked at him with a confused expression "What?"

"Shut up!" Diego snapped at him and nodded towards Manny.

"B-but...oh..."Sid finally quietened down as he finally noticed Manny's sullen face as he stared at what the sketch would have been his family portrait. _"But...if that's his family, then what's he doing wandering around on his own...?"_ Taura wondered with a baffled tilt of her head, then looked back at the sketch-o-Rama of Manny's family. The first few drawings were of Manny's life with his family, all of them looking content and happy, which didn't help Taura lose any of her confusion until she saw the next ones. _"Oh god..."_ was the only thing she could say when she saw them:

The calf wondered too far away from his parents and ended up being chased by humans with spears. As he ran back to his mother, Manny shoved them off and fought back the humans as his family tried to run away to safety. Spears were thrown at him and Manny tried to dodge them by turning around and trying to run away, only to find another wall of humans blocking him. A look of horror crossed his face when he found his family trapped in a corner with humans pointing their sharp spears at them and above them at the edge of the cliff was another group of humans...preparing to throw boulders down at them...

Taura felt absolutely heartbroken for him and sympathized with the big mammoth. Not only did he have his family killed, but also right in front of his eyes and he wasn't able to do anything to stop it...just...like her...

Sid gulped nervously as he saw the entire story and looked back at Manny with worry; Diego glanced indecisively back and forth from the cave drawing and back at Manny, not sure what to do, while Taura looked at him with eyes that held absolute sympathy. Manny seemed to be in a daze, his eyes glazed with longing and remorse, staring at the cave wall as he reached out his trunk and gently touched the drawing of his son. He then started to drag his trunk along the body, causing him to bump into the baby's hand.

Manny started to blink rapidly, as if broken from a trance, and looked down at the baby who was innocently leaning against the cave wall and placing both his hands against the baby calf drawing. The human child tried to reach out to him, but tripped over his own feet and fell into Manny's trunk. Manny pulled him up closer to his face, the baby looking at him with a clueless smiling face as he gurgled naively. Manny simply stared at him with loving eyes and hugged him towards his face, the baby hugging him back. Manny had tears in his eyes, but quickly closed them so that they wouldn't spill, clinging the baby closer to him. Taura felt tears beginning to build up in the back of her eyes as well, but quickly blinked them away before any of them would see them._ "The last thing we need is a water slide of emotion..."_ She chuckled dryly in her head, making sure to block Diego from hearing it.

Taura was too busy trying to hold back her tears and staring up at Manny to notice Sid comically smear his snot all over Diego's shoulder, which caused Diego to cringe back in disgust but decided to let him go for now. Without saying a word, Manny placed the baby on his shoulders and walked away towards the exit of the cave. Sid eagerly waddled after him with a grin threatening to split his face in half, while Diego looked one last time at the family portrait before following after them.

_"D'you think I could've done anything?"_

Diego paused in his steps and looked back to find Taura still staring at the sketch, sitting very frigidly. He didn't make a move to walk towards her but stayed anyways and asked "What do you mean?" Taura didn't turn her head back, so he wasn't able to tell whether she was crying now or not, the only thing telling him what she felt was by her voice, which didn't crack with tears and still held strong. _"Back when the humans invaded...and I lost Kraz...d'you think it was partly my fault?"_

Diego frowned at what she said and sat next to her looking at her impassive and emotionless face as she held her head high. But Diego knew better than to buy her facade; she was practically brought up by her brother to act this way: "Never show weakness, never show that you care. In the end, you'll always wind up getting hurt." was what he always said. Whether it was after a battle or after a hunt or after some random discussion before going to bed, Taura memorized it like the statement was her second name.

Her brother wasn't heartless though, quite the opposite. Just picture the larger, male version of Taura and amplify the amount of mischief and bright smiles by 100 and the result would be the exact equivalent of Kraz. It was because of the way they were both treated after they were accepted into the pack that got him to act so cold hearted in public. They weren't born into Soto's pack, they were just some of the few kittens who ended up being raised and taken into the pack when their own one got attacked by Soto. Sometimes when Kraz would come back to the den, he would grumble about the idiot 'fleabags' who would mock their foreign brown and beige fur coats and their strange amber eyes. Kraz was level-headed enough to ignore them ("those fleabags are not worth dirtying your claws for, just ignore them" is what he would say), but whenever a female in Taura's group openly mocked her and her brother...well, let's just say that said female wasn't able to talk for a long time. But sometimes, Kraz would always give her the same lecture: Never show weakness, never show that you care.

And right now, she was determined to not cry openly in front of Diego like some weeping kitten. The last thing she wanted was for her to be degraded in his eyes because of her weakness, she practically looked up to him after being under his care for so long.

"No, it wasn't your fault." Diego stated like it was a fact rather than an opinion. Taura finally turned her head to look at him, trying to seem placid but her eyes gave her away: nearly spilling with tears and filled with uncertainty.

_"But...don't you ever wonder...if you could've done something...when you fought those humans...and lost your friends?"_ Taura asked timidly again.

Diego paused for a moment, thinking how to reply to that question, before finally muttering "I sometimes feel a little guilty and horrible when looking back on the burdens of the battle," he then turned his head towards her to look into her eyes with his determined ones "I would sometimes have flashbacks of the look on my companion's face before he finally passed away in front of me. But then I remind myself that it was the HUMANS who killed them, not me," He softened his gaze a little and did something that Taura thought he would have never done in his entire life: he raised up his paw and started to pat and stroke her on the head. "Besides," He continued "What could you have done? You were young, not as experienced in fighting. And even if you tried to run out to get the healers, all the other females were on the other side of Half Peak, being slaughtered."

Diego then started to smile, trying to lighten the mood for the female who was staring in shock at him "And if you did do that, I wouldn't have ever met you, and do you know how boring my life would be then?"

Taura started to giggle at what he said and Diego managed to succeed into making her smile, even if it was a small, tight-lipped one. _"Hm...I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say...Pret-ty dull!"_ She drawled as her smile started to widen into a smug smirk.

Diego snorted and rolled his eyes, finally taking his paw off her head and following the others. "Alright, don't start to get cocky."

He heard her giggle some more before hearing her muffled footsteps as she caught up with him. She gently bumped her shoulders into his to try and get his attention, when he looked back at her with one of his eyebrows raised in question, she simply sent him a beaming grateful smile before muttering _"Thanks...and not just for the pep talk, but for all those months of being there for me..."_

Diego returned her smile with a short sideways grin before grumbling with his tough facade "Yeah well, just don't get me to do anything mushy like that again..."


	8. Bison and Antelopes

**Here ya go guys! SPECIAL FLASHBACK CHAPTER****!**

** And since u guys were awesome enough to get up to 20 reviews, I'm gonna make it a SERIES of flashbacks and make it extra longer, a treat for u awesome sauces out there! (Got that phrase from Plague's Vengeance, awesome author check her out, so DON'T TELL HER!) So here ya go and hope u enjoy it!**

**Also, for those who might be having trouble differentiating the difference of age between Taura and Kraz in the beginning, lemme just clarify: For Kraz, think of Simba in his kiddie years when he's singing that 'oh I just can't wait to be king' song. That's around the age he would be, maybe a few weeks older. As for Taura, she would be a few months younger than Kraz, probably just grown out of drinking milk from a mother.**

**Finally, for those who have been wondering what would Taura's voice sound like, since in here she will speak for the first time to Diego (SPOLIERZZ! XD), and my answer is that the voice actress I would use or Taura would be Meg Turner from SourceFed. I don't really watch her videos, but I saw her on Youtubers React and I really think that if Taura had a voice, it would be hers! XD**

**Btw, _Italics_ means telepathic  
**

**Warning: OC pairing, Don't like, DON'T READ!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own the Ice Age franchise or any of the characters in it; that all belongs to Blue Sky**

* * *

Snow was starting to melt and the white curtains of winter were pulled back to reveal the stage of summer. If you stood at the right cave in Half Peak, you would have the perfect view of a lush landscape of bright green grass and towering pine trees. Fruits were now ripe for picking, standing out with their bright colors and intoxicating scents of assuring sweetness. Of course, with a range of fat and ripe fruits and tall grass, came a diverse range of thousands of herds of fat and ripe prey. All of them grazing by random hills or reaching up and trying to pluck the fruit off of the trees. This was the exact scenery that caught Taura's eyes as she sat by the cave's entrance, overlooking the valley below Half Peak.

She was now a few months old, her sabers grown barely long enough to grow out of her mouth. Her fur coat was nearly beige all over, rather than the diverse range of dark browns later on, and her cheeks much more chubbier from her baby fat. Her most recognizable facial characteristic were her wide, innocent eyes. Compared to other full grown sabers, she would probably only reach up to their ankles in height.

"Taura!"

Taura looked back to find her older brother padding towards her. He was twice as large as her; while she was more chubby and round, her brother was starting to grow muscle and height. His fur coat was starting to go brown on his back and legs and he had a tuft of brown fur growing between his ears and covering his left eye, giving him a more rogue-ish look. His sabers were longer than hers, reaching down to his chin. His eyes also had the same shade of amber, but there was the occasional speck of brown here and there around the corners of his iris.

He glanced at her with concern as he looked around with worry "You know you're not supposed to leave the den when it's feeding time!" He then suddenly grinned very brightly as his eyes twinkled with excitement, Taura was nearly able to see the saliva that was threatening to dribble from his watering mouth. "Oh, which reminds me that they brought in this HUGE fatty buffalo carcass and they're giving away the scraps now to the nursing den! Wanna come?" His face then suddenly took a more serious look, "But seriously, you shouldn't be here anyways! Arma would get mad if she saw us here..."

Taura tried to not giggle at her brother's comical mood swings, but she couldn't help herself when she started to grin at him. Whenever there was food involved, Kraz would ramble on in whatever conversation and then halfway through he would suddenly stop whatever they were talking about and point out with a happy grin some dish that was being handed out or commenting on how last night's gazelle was. Ever since Kraz grew out of his toddler years, he started to become more gluttonous and daring. That meant Taura would finish her meals early and end up spending less time with him w'hen he went off looking for more scraps, promising that he would come back before she knew it. She didn't mind of course, whatever made Kraz happy would do the same for her! But it was when the other cubs would barge in that would get her down, because they would start to call her a freak and an outsider and claiming that she would never fit in.

Of course, Kraz was always able to come and save her by either kicking the boys out or yelling at the squealing girls until they started to cry and run to their mommies. That option was never a good one because in the end, they would get a big scolding from Arma (their nurse) and whenever they would walk outside to play, they would catch the eyes of a few of the mothers who would glare at them and whisper behind their backs. Kraz would glare back at them and stand protectively over Taura as she shyly avoided their gazes while trying to hide behind their brother. That only lasted for a while until one day Kraz told her off for being too nervous. "If you let them make you feel that way, it'll only satisfy them!You've gotta never show weakness! Hold your head high! 'Cuz one day, I won't be there to guard you from them!" He said, and after that day, Taura always tried to hold her head high and tried to fight back whenever one of the cubs would taunt her. But she still found it hard to make friends and spoke rather quietly whenever talking with her brother.

Taura shook her head at him and shyly informed him "Arma told me to wait out here," before looking back out to the valley again.

Kraz blinked at her in confusion before tilting his head adorably "She did? Why'd she do that?"

Taura simply shrugged her shoulders, "Might be going to another nursing den, but she said to invite you along as well."

Kraz's eyes widened in surprise, but then started to grin. "Oh! Well, in that case I'll just wait here with you!" He eagerly sat down next to Taura, who reacted instantly to his warm body by cuddling closer to his side and laying her head on his paw. They both stood there silently, enjoying their rare moment of comfort as they gazed at the lush green valleys below Half Peak. Eventually, their moment was interrupted when Arma came in.

"Alright guys, we'll have to be going now if we want to make it back before sunset!" Arma was an average sized female Smilodon who was in her adolescent years, and she was just like your average teenage woman. Her fur coat was the same shade as any average saber in Half Peak: golden coat with a white underbelly, but the color was more pale and had a grey shade to it. Her eyes were a pale blue and she loved to gossip with the other nurses and mothers in the neighboring dens, so this wasn't the first trip they had to take. Technically, Arma wasn't breaking any of Soto's rules, since she was technically still watching over them and they always managed to come back by nightfall. Kraz and Taura didn't mind because every single cave they visited would always be a new one, and they always had fun exploring each one.

Taura and Kraz happily padded over and trotted out of the den with Arma, their nurse leading the way. Half Peak still looked kind of the same, towering black cliffs with jagged edges, except before it didn't have as much holes in it and looked more like a dome chopped into sharp, jagged pieces. The two cubs had to be careful not to trip because the paths connecting all the nursing den caves were narrow ledges that crisscrossed along the cliff walls.

The trio eventually entered a cave that was smaller than the ones that they usually visited. Also, inside were some patches of moss grouped together in a corner which looked like it was used as a bed, and large enough to fit more than just one saber. Near the entrance was a female Smilodon who was expecting them and Taura felt her jaw go slack when she saw her for the first time.

She was absolutely beautiful with a bronze colored pelt that seemed to glow in the darkness of the cave. Her fur looked like it was thoroughly washed everyday and taken extra care of, making it have a glossy shine. Her sabers were very long and reached downwards, at least 2 inches going over her chin; they were very white and slick. Her eyes were a gorgeous bottle-green that seemed to hold a gentle and kind twinkle in them, the pair were both bordered with thick brown lashes that made them look more feminine.

Arma courteously bowed her head in greeting to the older saber, "It is nice to see you again Shama, I hope that you had a nice day today?"

Shama nodded her head in greeting while sending Arma a kind joking smile, making her face seem even more pretty by showing off a row of perfectly aligned canines. "Well, not much to be done on a fine day when you have to stay in bed and take care of an active child," She then looked down to find the two cubs staring at her in wonder, causing her smile to widen in amusement. "Well hello! And who might these two adorable young cubs be?"

Taura was broken out of her stupor and began to take a sudden interest to the cave floor, tracing patterns with her paw shyly while she heard her brother grumble something among the lines of not being adorable or young. They both soon found themselves being showed off by Arma as she cooed with Shama over how adorably wide Taura's eyes were, how big Kraz was starting to grow or how Taura had yet to lose her baby fat. Other than that, it was just an incessant chatter of gossip. On and on they went about this mother giving birth to healthy kits and that warrior who got injured in a brave battle; somehow the conversation went back to the two cubs and Shama then started to complain about how her son was also having the same problem with his baby fat and yet he was able to eat meat now.

"Where is your son by the way?" Arma inquired as she looked around the cave for said cub, "Didn't you say that you were taking care of him all day?"

Shama started to chuckle "Funny you should ask, because he has decided to stand behind me this whole time when he woke up just a few moments ago," She then turned back to encourage her son out of hiding "Diego, don't you want to greet out new guests?"

Kraz and Taura grew curious as to who their eavesdropping friend was and tried to look over Shama's back to see what this 'Diego' looks like. A small, golden head shyly peeped out from behind Shama's back to reveal two bright, hazel eyes peeking out shyly. Diego finally came out from behind Shama's back but hurriedly hid behind his mother's arm. He had the same golden pelt as his mother and his sabers reached down to his chin. He looked to be around Kraz's age and looked like he was starting to grow sideburns under his ears.

"Aw, he's so adorable!" Arma cooed with a smile, "But he doesn't have your eyes, their more hazel!"

Diego frowned a little at the nurse and Taura heard him grumble something along the lines of not being adorable which made her smile a bit. He sounded a lot like Kraz in her opinion. Diego glanced at the beige female cub who was hiding halfway behind her big brother while staring at him with curiosity-filled eyes as her head was tilted a little to the side. Any other cub his age would have found that action quite adorable, but Diego didn't really see what the two big Smilodon's were making such a big deal over; she just looked like any other cub to him, only with a different fur coat.

"Well, go say hello Diego," Shama chuckled at her shy son as she pushed him forward, causing him to stumble a bit. The little cub glared at his mother a bit before walking towards the two cubs. He didn't have many friends, so he wasn't used to being social. He tried to look anywhere but the two inquiring eyes of the cubs in front of him and awkwardly coughed into his paw before introducing himself.

"Um...hi, name's Diego," He mumbled, when he looked up he was surprised to find Kraz grinning at him with a big friendly smile.

"Hiya! I'm Kraz and this is my sis Taura!" Kraz said while snatching Diego's paw and shaking it eagerly. Taura was still trying to hide behind her brother, but gave Diego a shy wave and a small smile.

"Hello," She greeted him, her voice barely above a whisper.

Kraz was still shaking Diego's paw, which he quickly snatched back before the guy would dislocate it or something. Diego looked at the cub and his sister strangely; these two barely knew him and yet her brother greeted him like they were lifelong friends or something.

Arma looked outside to find the sun starting to set, giving the sky a bright orange hue. "Alright guys, we're gonna have to go now," She sighed before nodding her head politely towards the older saber "It's been a pleasure seeing you again Shama!"

Shama repeated the gesture and sent her a warm smile "And I you Arma, I hope to meet you again soon."

Arma quickly shuffled her two cubs towards the cave entrance, trying to make it back in time before nightfall. Taura looked back over her shoulder to find Diego still staring at them. She couldn't tell whether it was with curiosity or with sadness, but she sent him a small smile and a farewell wave before finally letting her brother drag her out of the cave. Little did she know, that this would be the first and last time she would have ever see Diego again before the human attack...

* * *

A few years have passed and Half Peak was now under the mercy of the cold winter storm outside. The sky above was bleak with grey, swirling clouds and inside the caves you could hear the howling of the frosty wind. It took Diego nearly half an hour just to trudge through the snow-covered ledges from one cave to another, the biting wind nipping at his face and making it numb for a while. He was now inside the cave looking out at the frozen hell below, protected from the harsh weather. He wished that he was able to observe by his lonesome but unfortunately, Soto had other plans for him today.

There, lying with her back facing him, was a sleek female saber with a brown and beige fur coat. Her left eye waswrapped with a leaf, most of the green color bleached with the blood seeping from her fresh wound. Some parts of her body had the fur ripped clean off revealing the other wounds and bruises from the battle, but they eventually faded away leaving behind a faint purple shade. Taura was her name, if Diego remembered correctly. He could've sworn he'd seen her before some time back, but then passed it off as probably catching a glimpse of her when walking through Half a few feet away from him in the far corner of the cave, was a sleek, female saber with a torn brown and beige fur coat, her back towards him as she lay her head on her paws. Her left eye was wrapped with a leaf, most of the green color bleached with the blood seeping from her fresh wound. Some parts of her body had the fur ripped clean off revealing the other wounds and bruises from the battle, but they eventually faded away leaving behind a faint purple shade. Taura was her name, if Diego remembered correctly. He could've sworn he'd seen her before some time back, but then passed it off as probably catching a glimpse of her when walking through Half Peak.

She was the only female survivor in their pack and Soto decided to leave her in his charge while he went off in search of others, which kind of annoyed Diego considering he too wanted to look for his companions who might still be alive. Ever since he came in with an antelope leg between his jaws so he can save for later, he found her in the exact same position she was in now, not saying a word. Her face remained expressionless, giving away nothing as to what she might be thinking, her downcast and brooding eyes were the only hints to giving away her haunted mood.

Diego breathed deeply through his nose and looked back outside again. He didn't want her to start some happy-go chat with him and start opening best friends invitations, but he didn't want to sit here doing nothing but watching the snow fall in boredom either! He did try to start a conversation before by asking her if she was hungry or cold, but she remained ignorant to his existence and kept her back towards him.

A sudden loud bellow outside caused him to sharply get to his feet and his fur to bristle. He narrowed his eyes and saw a large figure shuffling through the snow and heading towards Half Peak, the heavy snowfall and wind making it hard for him to make out just WHAT was heading towards them, but whatever it was it certainly was HUGE! _"Where is Soto?"_ Diego grumbled in his head as he heard another loud roar, only this time much more dangerously close. _"He should be here by now..."_

Diego turned to look at Taura with a stern face "Stay here, I'm going to check what's going on outside."

The female either didn't hear him or simply ignored him because she made no inclination to confirm that she did and simply kept her back towards him. Diego glared at her irritably before finally marching off outside in the snow. He jumped off the ledge and onto the valley ground below, now officially off Half Peak territory. It wasn't the fact that some creature dared to come near saber-tooth grounds is what bothered Diego, it was what kind of creature decided to take shelter with them. If it was simply some gazelle separated from its herd, then Diego can simply use the snow storm to his advantage and pounce on the poor grazer while snapping its neck, leaving him and Taura with more breakfast. If it was a large bison or mammoth however...that was an entirely different story. He and Taura were still injured and if either of that kind of prey happened to wander into their cave, the sight of two predators would make it feel threatened and they would end up being attacked by it.

Diego tried sniffing the animal out, but the cold wind was blowing away from him, making it difficult for him to catch a scent. He then suddenly felt his paw slip into some dent on the snow floor. Diego leaned forward to where his paw slipped to find tracks...bison tracks...and it was heading towards where Taura was...

_"Oh no..."_

Diego quickly sprinted as fast as he can back to the cave. It would take a while for the bison to climb up the ledge, so if he was able to make it in time, he should be able to cut it off before it reached Taura. Sure enough, a few yards ahead of him, was a large bison trying to clamber its way up the rocky ledges towards the cave to take shelter from the harsh weather. Diego breathed in deeply and roared very loudly, catching its attention immediately. It stopped trying to climb up and bellowed back at Diego with panicked, rage-filled eyes and stomped at the ground angrily. It lowered itself to the ground; breathing heavily through its nose, making it look like there was steam coming out of it and got ready to charge at him.

"Well...this did not go as I expected" Diego muttered with a dry grin, also lowering himself to the ground as he narrowed his eyes threateningly towards the bull-like creature, readying himself for some mauling and piercing attacks from the bison's horns. Soon enough, the creature gave one last bellow and started to charge towards Diego.

Then, like something out of a movie, Diego saw Taura shoot out from the cave entrance above the bison...and pounced on top of it. Needless to say, as soon as Taura did that, all hell broke loose...

The bison to jump and spin around like it was rabid, however Taura still held fast, her claws piercing the bison's hide painfully on each side, which only fueled its anger and caused it to spin around even more faster, bellowing and shrieking in rage and pain. What Taura did next though, caused things to go even worse.

She roared at the bison from behind and then pierced her fangs into its neck. The bison seemed to now go on a rampage; rather than just spinning and jumping around, it was now rolling around on the floor, trying to crush the saber off its back. Taura simply bite harder into the furious bison's neck, causing it to change tactics. The bison glanced at an enormous boulder nearby and started to charge full speed at it. Diego, who had been staring at the entire seen with shock, broke from his stupor and decided to act. A direct hit at that rock would probably kill the bison, but the force would send Taura flying into it as well! This female was risking her life to save him, the least he could do was return the favor!

Taura saw what the bison was trying to do and knew that she couldn't hang on to the bison with a force that strong, but honestly...she didn't care. The only person that she ever cared about, the only one who's ever cared for her has just been killed right in front of her. Now...she had nobody. Taura saw the boulder incoming at a very fast pace, now only a few feet away from them, shut her eyes and waited for the impact.

Suddenly, instead of finding herself lurched forwards, she felt something collide at the side of the bison and sent them all tumbling into the snow. Taura finally let go of the bison which caused her tumbled and collide against the cliff wall. She tried to stand up while groggily shaking her head, but only succeeded into getting her two front arms straight. She looked up only to find her eyes widen when she saw Diego standing in front of her protectively, growling at the bison who was standing a few feet away from them.

It looked at the two sabers for a moment, bellowed at Diego one last time and then trotted away painfully with a limp on one of its legs. Maybe if it only had to fight off one saber, it might have had a chance of winning. But having to face off two AND while half of it's body was bleeding profusely, in addition to a limping foot, it decided to not take that chance.

Diego glared at its retreating back and never looked away until it's large carcass was lost in the storm. He snorted at its direction confidently and turned back towards the female behind him with concerned eyes.

"Are you alright?" Diego asked, looking all over her frame for any new wounds or bruises while Taura just sat there, staring at him in shock. It must have took a while for his question to get to her head, because it wasn't until a moment she finally replied.

She glanced at his right leg with a raised eyebrow before snorting, _"You're one to talk..."_

Diego felt his eyes widen a bit in shock at the fact that this is the first time she's spoken to him!...Well, technically she didn't SPEAK but he was able to hear her voice in his head, which sounded like...well, any another female voice! He looked down at what she was referring to and found a long, bleeding gash on his right leg. As soon as he saw it, he started to feel the pain flooding his nervous system and winced while tried to loosen the weight on the injured leg.

_"C'mon"_ Diego looked back at Taura and found her getting up and trying to help him walk, _"Let's go back to the cave. We need to get that cleaned and wrapped up."_

He was pushed up to the ledge with the help from Taura and then lay down on a bed of moss and dried leaves in their cave that she collected from trips to other dens and caves in Half Peak. She first told him to lick the wound clean before she wrapped it tightly with a large banana leaf that she found back in her old den in the infiltration troop caves. Whenever they came back with injured casualties from an infiltration mission, they always had spare banana leaves in some of the sabers' dens. Finally, she went to the back of the cave and dug up the antelope leg that Diego brought in the beginning. At first he denied being hungry, but Taura growled at him and told him that he needed it more than her since he nearly lost a leg. He was about to argue further if it wasn't for his loud protesting stomach that voiced his hunger.

While he was biting off of his antelope meat, he would glance every now and then at the female who stood in front of the cave entrance, keeping watch while she licked her bleeding paws. As she was flung off of the bison, some of her claws were torn off and still stuck to the bison's hide like stubborn thorns. Ever since coming back, she continued her previous routine of silence, except now she would look back at Diego sometimes instead of ignoring him.

"Thanks by the way..." Diego muttered while swallowing his meal. Taura looked back at him and for the first time, gave him a small smile.

_"You're welcome..."_

* * *

_"Hey! You're back!"_

Summer was back and the now smaller pack had moved to the caves on the cliff side adjacent to the human camp down in the valley below. Soto had forced them to track the human herd for weeks now until they finally settled here, giving Soto the perfect opportunity to plan his revenge: to kill the offspring of the human leader. The mother was now 5 months pregnant, her stomach now a rotund hump as she awkwardly wobbled around in the camp.

It has been 3 months since the bison incident and Taura found herself spending more and more time with her new warden. Again, Soto assigned them both with the same cave but this time, Taura would work at midnight by spying on the humans and their routines while Diego helped with the hunting expeditions during the day and sometimes was by Soto's side plotting or running over strategies. In the beginning, Diego would come back in the afternoon to find Taura in the cave and they would sit by each other and sometimes have small talk or just simply sit and enjoy each others company. Later on, Diego started to bring scraps from his hunts like a leg or meat from the back and he would eat beside her while Taura rambled on about last night and the weird customs humans had or giggle at the crude conversations that she heard from wolves. Slowly but surely, Taura came out of her cold, hard shell and started to show Diego her more happy and mischievous side. Taura started to accept him as a reasonable enough option for a companion because of the many ways her resembled her brother, from his cocky attitude to his soft, hidden moral side.

Taura was waiting for Diego as usual inside the cave and saw him holding something in his mouth and started to bounce eagerly up and down. _"Oh oh oh! What is it this time? Juicy thick mammoth steak? Nice fatty antelope?!"_ She asked him hurriedly as she felt her mouth water just by thinking about it.

Diego rolled his eyes at her with an annoyed expression before finally dropping the carcass: a gazelle leg. Taura licked her lips excitedly and leaned down to take a bite, but felt Diego's paw hit her at the back of her head, causing her face to miss the hunk of meat and land on the floor. _"Ow! What the heck Diego?!"_ Taura glared at him as she rubbed her nose. Diego could've sworn that she was starting to take on her brother's gluttonous traits. He remembered whenever he would join their hunting party, some of the others mocked that if he had his way he would let himself eat half the carcass before taking it back to the pack.

"You've already had an entire bison leg today, this one I'm eating ALONE!" Diego huffed at her, laying down by the carcass and starting to eat from it. Taura glared at him for a while, hoping that somehow her heated stares would drill a hole on his thick skull, but to no avail. She finally gave up into proving that theory and sat down opposite him, watching the sunset behind the giant glaciers on the horizon.

"You know it's not my fault that the only prey you catch are small weak ones..." Diego suddenly remarked with feigned innocence while smirking smugly at Taura with a bloody muzzle, causing her to cringe in disgust but in a matter of seconds her face scrunched up in fury. Diego ignored the glares that would've set an entire forest on fire and continued to much away innocently at his antelope leg. Taura had half a mind to rip that smug smirk off of his face and give him a few new scars on his ugly mug, but then a new and much more **sly **idea came in her head, causing her to grin with an impish gleam in her eyes.

Diego saw Taura at the corner of his eyes saunter towards him and lean her head in so that her mouth was a few centimeters away from his ear.

_"Can't I at least have a lick?"_ Taura whispered innocently. Diego glanced at her face that held nothing but the innocence in her voice, but there was some kind of twinkle in her eyes that made him feel a little nervous.

"Uh...sure, why not?" the reply coming out more like a question rather than an assurance. Diego went back to eating at his antelope, but then suddenly paused when he felt something warm and wet slide all the way up his cheek, causing some of the blood to come off...

...Oh dear god...**she actually LICKED him**...

Taura could've sworn with malicious delight and an inward grin that Diego flew at least 4 ft in the air away from her before roaring at her.

"'the heck Taura?!" Diego roared, rubbing his paw furiously on his cheek, looking like some schoolboy who was trying to get rid of the cooties. Taura ignored his enraged glares and continued to taunt him while batting her eyelashes at him with a playful smirk.

_"Mmm, you taste like antelope!"_ She giggled at his shocked expression _"And it's not my fault that you get blood all over yourself!" _

Diego broke from his shocked stupor and growled at her irritably before stomping off to the moss bed in the corner of the cave, hoping to whatever deity above that Taura didn't see the heat that rose to his face.

"I'm not hungry anymore, I'm going to bed..." Diego grumbled before plunking himself on the soft vegetation. Before he went to sleep though, he was able to hear one last giggling message from Taura:

_"I have a feeling that you and me are gonna be spending a LO~ONG time together pal..._


	9. Lava Rivers and Mapping Sloths

**Okay, here's another chapter! I try to update daily, but I took a day off, so sue me! Anywho, I think you can guess which kind of chapter this is so I'm gonna stop yapping now  
**

**And here r the replies to ur super-licious reviews:**

**Shiego627: Bet ya didn't see that coming! XD Here's another update!**

**TimberPaw: Aw, thanks so much for dedicating ur time to write a review! :3 Well...maybe somewhere deep down he enjoyed it...but Taura just mainly used it to get payback, which btw I bet u didn't see comin! XD Yeh, I think they would've been friends, although Kraz might annoy Diego by eating his lunch or something...XD Here's another update!**

**Btw, _Italics_ means telepathic  
**

**Warning: OC pairing, Don't like, DON'T READ!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own the Ice Age franchise or any of the characters in it; that all belongs to Blue Sky**

* * *

The four mammals were now able to see Half Peak far away in the distance, and ahead of it was Glacier Pass. Only this time, Taura didn't wince with guilt whenever she caught sight of Half Peak; back at the cave, she made a decision: to stick by Diego's. She remembered how Diego justified that it was the HUMANS who wrecked their lives and killed their family and friends. This might be their last chance for revenge and so she didn't want to mess it up just because two victims are caught in the process. Also, Diego has been there for Taura her entire life, the least she could do was stick by him on this, even if this was Manny and Sid that they might kill...she just hoped he knew what he was doing...

"Well, would you look at that!" Manny chuckled with a smile. It seemed that huge weight was lifted off his shoulders ever since they came across the cave paintings; he now seemed to be more cheerful since then. "The tigers actually did it! There's Half Peak, next stop, Glacier Pass." He then looked back at Diego and Taura with an amused smile "How could we have ever doubted you?"

"Did you hear that little fella?" Sid said excitedly while wagging his finger at Pinky (what Manny decided to nickname that baby) "You're almost home!"

Sid would've continued walking, until he suddenly felt a warm sensation under his feet. He looked down and lifted both of his feet one at a time to find red, heated paw prints underneath.

"My feet are sweating..." Sid stated with a panicked look in his eyes, looking at the trio in front of him for help. Taura heard Sid behind her back and turned around to look at him with concern, asking with her eyes 'are you okay?'. However Diego and Manny just kept walking, ignoring his random proclamation.

"Do we have to get a newsflash every time your body does something?" Diego drawled as he looked back at Sid with an annoyed roll of his eyes.

"He's doing it for attention, just ignore him." Manny told Diego, not bothered looking back at the sloth in question. Taura rolled her eyes at the two and motioned Sid with an encouraging smile to just keep walking, as if saying 'don't worry, its probably nothing'. Sid was about to follow until he felt the heat under his feet start to increase, nearly burning the pads underneath, causing him to hop about in panic as his eyes started to take a terrified look.

"Seriously!" Sid called out desperately to his companions "My feet are really hot! Ow...ooh, ouch!" Sid started to shuffle and hop towards them like mad, trying to get rid of the blistering heat beneath his feet. The trio in front of him would've continued forward, but a sudden loud rumbling caused them to pause. Diego looked around in suspicion while Taura glanced at him with worry.

_"Diego...is it just me...or did it sound like it came from..."_ Taura muttered, starting to look panicked, but before she could finish her sentence, Manny beat her to it with his own assumption.

"Tell me that was your stomach?" Manny queried bemusedly, while Diego shushed him. Again he looked around, trying to hear that sound again to confirm his and Taura's suspicions of where it originated from...

"I'm sure it was just thunder..." Sid was about to finish his sentence jokingly, until the full meaning of his words got him worried, as he looked down. "From...under...ground?

_**BOOSH!**_

An entire current of lava blasted out from the ice behind the quartet and caused them to yell in panic and start running away, Manny in the lead. After the first blast, others soon followed after it, each one seeming to get closer to the group than the other. Soon, the entire ice block that the quartet were walking on was crumbled into nothing more than a narrow melting bridge, on either side was a wide chasm of a deadly,boiling lava river. As they ran forwards, parts of the bridge started to crumble behind them and sometimes some chunks would be sent flying up, only to be sent back down into the river or backwards.

Diego was running forwards behind the trio until the block of ice in front of him suddenly fell off, leaving a wide space between him and the other side of the bridge. Diego glanced at the gap and the others up front indecisively, until he saw Taura looking at him with panicked, worried eyes, waiting for him on the other side. Diego quickly lowered himself and leaped forwards, landing safely next to Taura. She let out a breath of relief before going up front to see what's holding them.

"Wow, I wish I could jump like that!" Sid complimented while looking at Diego from his position on the floor (_"How did he even fall down anyways?...Ah well, he isn't the most coordinated of creatures..."_). An idea flashed itself on Taura's head from what Sid said, making her grumble in reluctance. She quickly grabbed Sid's neck within her mouth and lowered herself on her haunches, eyeing the distance from the bridge to the other side, assessing the risk.

"Taura! What are you doing?" Manny yelled at her over the roaring sounds of explosions and gas. When Diego heard what he said, he started to get panicked at what she was doing and tried to look over Manny's large form to see her up front. Taura didn't reply but sent him a reassuring tight-lipped smile before leaping with all her might, dragging Sid along with her. Diego heard both bodies tumble and slide before a final 'thud' was heard, assuring him that they were both safe.

"Come on! Move faster!" Diego shouted at Manny, urging him to hurry up.

"Have you noticed the river of lava?!" Manny yelled back, looking at the said river below melting away their bridge at a deadly pace. Manny glanced at the baby in his trunk worriedly; Pinky looked up at Manny in panic before clutching on to his trunk while whimpering in fear. Finally, Manny clenched his jaw and jumped forwards, just as a part of the bridge collapsed behind him. One of his feet slipped on the ledge behind him, but he made it on the other side safely, walking towards Sid to give him the baby.

Diego was about to jump after him, but a sudden explosion of gas and smoke shot up in front of him, causing him to cringe back. Now, there was no bridge. There was only the ice block that Diego stood on and the ledge leaning out towards him, but still a far distance away. Taura hurriedly stood up and stared at him, waiting for him to jump. _"I swear to god if he doesn't make it..."_ She growled inwardly, when really she was terrified that he wouldn't make the jump.

Finally, Diego leaped forwards and grabbed onto the ledge, his legs slipping behind him. Taura called out his name in panic inwardly, as she saw him clinging to the edge desperately. Taura thought she heard Manny yell something, but she was too busy trying to carefully make her way towards Diego within cracking the ice. _"Maybe if I can get to him I can pull him up..."_ She thought as she gritted her teeth in worry as she saw him slip even further. She was just about to reach him when Manny's trunk pushed her back, causing her to tumble back to where she started. She roared at Manny in fury as if saying 'what the hell?'

"You're not strong enough to lift him up, you might fall in!" Manny yelled back at her as he made his way towards Diego, "Just stay back, I'll get him!"

Manny reached out his trunk as far as it would stretch towards Diego, who was stumbling and scratching away at the slippery ice as he tried not to fall. As Manny inched closer and closer, the ice was getting thinner and thinner beneath them. Manny narrowed his eyes in frustration as he leaned forward even more, his trunk now merely an inch away from Diego's paw, as he was now also reaching out towards Manny.

Suddenly, the ice Diego was holding onto finally collapsed, causing him to fall down and yell out in fear. Diego clenched his eyes shut, waiting for the searing pain of the lava until he felt Manny's trunk grab hold of one of his paws. Diego looked back up at Manny in shock, but that lasted only for a second until he had to hide back away from the ice block that shot up again with an explosion of gas. Diego used his other paw to grip himself further up Manny's trunk using his claws, making Manny wince and shut his eyes in pain. When Manny heard the ice crack behind him, he quickly acted by flinging Diego behind him and making him let go.

Taura quickly stepped aside as Diego tumbled next to her, making her smile in relief, until she noticed that Manny didn't come back yet. She looked forward only for her eyes to widen as she noticed the ice beneath Manny start to crack and slip.

"Manny!" Sid called out to the mammoth just as he tumbled down, all three of them hearing him trumpet out in fear as he fell. Diego looked on with shock as he lay there, while Taura felt her jaw slacken and her eyes still wide with horror. _"No...this can't be happening..."_ She mumbled, until sure enough, she was proven correct.

Suddenly, another explosion of gas sent the block of ice that Manny was on soaring into the air, until he came back falling towards the ground in front of them and finally landed with a big BOOM!

"Manny, Manny, are you okay!?" Sid called out to him worriedly as he shuffled towards him and placed the baby down next to him. Sid was followed by Taura as she ran towards Manny while examining him, looking up and down his body for any wounds. "Come on, come on, say something, anything!" Sid pleaded, looking at Manny like he was about to cry.

"Yeeeohmanyoo..." Manny mumbled faintly, his voice sounding funny as if his nose was pressed. _"Wait a minute..."_ Taura wondered, she looked towards Manny's trunk to find Sid stepping on it, causing her to slap her forehead in annoyance.

"What? What?! I can't hear you!" Sid yelled as he placed his paw next to his ear to hear his friend better. Taura made her way towards him and shoved foot away from his trunk, causing Sid to yelp out in surprise and Manny to take in a big gulp of air in.

"Oh you're okay! You're okay!" Sid called out excitedly with a big relieved grin.

"Why did you do that?"

The three of them looked back to find Diego still lying there in shock, staring at Manny. "You could've..died, trying to save me..." Diego muttered as he looked at the ground guiltily.

"That's what you do in a herd," Manny said with a faint smile as he looked back at Sid and the baby and then back at the saber "We look out for each other."

"Well...thanks..." Diego mumbled with a small grateful smile at the mammoth.

Manny looked in front of him to find Taura still staring at him with wide eyes, standing directly in front of his face.

"What?" Manny asked faintly with a raised eyebrow, unable to read the expression on the female saber's face. Suddenly, the corners of Taura's mouth started to curl until they formed the most **biggest** smile the three mammal's had ever seen her wear, causing them to stare at her in surprise, but what she did next made their eyes widen even further. She abruptly launched herself at the poor mammoth and hugged him, her arms encircling his trunk as she shut her eyes tightly.

Sid and Diego felt themselves grin as they saw the awkward and panicked expression on the mammoth's face as he shifted around worriedly, unsure what to do. Manny felt himself stiffen when he felt something wet dampen his fur...she was crying...Taura was actually crying with gratitude..! He then felt her lips move against his trunk silently to form these words:

_"Thank you...thank you...so much..."_

* * *

"Guys! We've gotta get this kid outta the wind!" Manny yelled over the howling of the storm.

After an amusing scene of Taura coddling and mothering Diego for any injuries, Manny eventually healed from the fall and decided that they needed to start walking again as soon as possible. While they were walking however, a snow storm suddenly came on them when night fell, making it harder for them to walk as the layers of snow piled even deeper and deeper. Half Peak seemed closer to them and yet it seemed that they still had a long distance to go.

"How much further?" Manny asked Diego as he narrowed his eyes at their destination, trying to see past the blowing snow.

"Three miles!" Diego replied back, causing Taura to groan in pain. They had been walking all afternoon and now half of the night, she wasn't looking forward to another three miles!

"Ugh, I'm beat," Manny moaned, "We'll get there in the morning..."

Taura let out a breath of relief as she sat down, relieving her aching paws. The trio suddenly heard a sharp, scraping noise behind them and turned around to find Sid drawing something on a cliff wall behind them.

"What are you doing?" Diego asked him, not looking very interested at all on what he was doing.

"I'm putting sloths on the map!" Sid proclaimed proudly before stepping back and letting the three look at his piece of art. It was a wonky drawing of a sloth with stick arms, buckteeth and a circle on each side of the head for eyes. Diego frowned and titled his head at the drawing with a face that said 'really?'. Taura stepped forward to get a close-up look at the drawing while placing her paw on her chin as she pursed her lips. _"It's actually not a bad likeness!"_ Taura grinned, making Diego snort at her.

"Yeah, why don't you make it more realistic and draw him lying down?" Manny drawled, eyeing the drawing with a deadpanned look while Sid scowled at them disdainfully.

"And make him rounder." Diego smirked, while Manny snatched the rock from Sid and drew a large circle around the body of the sloth, making him look ridiculously fat.

"Perfect!" Diego congratulated, smirking even more widely. Taura narrowed her eyes at the two while shaking her head disapprovingly._ "Okay, come on guys, that's just mean!"_ Taura tisked at them while rubbing Sid's shoulder comfortingly, making him grin at her gratefully.

"Ha-ha! I forgot how to laugh!" Sid drawled sarcastically while glaring at them, snatching the rock back from Manny and tried to scribble out the giant body of the sloth. Suddenly, a small orange spark ignited from Sid's scratching and the embers fell on a random pile of rocks and sticks, causing them to light up and start to smoke. The trio looked at him with shocked eyes and slacked jaws..._"Oh..my...god...did Sid actually do something RIGHT for once?!"_ Taura exclaimed inwardly as she looked round worriedly, waiting for the apocalypse to commence.

Sid looked from the smoking pile and back to the chalk in his hand, now smiling very widely. "I'm a genius!" He exclaimed as he kissed the piece of rock in his hand.

* * *

They eventually managed to get a larger fire started by grabbing some bigger piles of firewood and timber. The snow around the fireplace soon melted leaving the warm stone floor for them to sleep on. The baby was now sitting next to the fire in front of Manny, who was lying down for some well earned rest, while Diego and Taura sat next to the fire.

"From now on, you'll have to refer to me as: 'Sid, Lord of the Flame'!" Sid proclaimed as he swaggered about while stretching his arms at the title with a smug grin.

"Hey, Lord of the Flame!" Manny called out while humorously smiling at Sid "Your tail's on fire."

Sid's eyes widened in panic as he looked back to find his tail, true to Manny's word, starting to smoke at the tip. He then started to yell in panic while running around the fire in circles, while Manny just sat back with a smile and enjoyed the show. Heck, even the baby was giggling at the funny scene playing before him! Just as Sid ran by Diego, he grabbed the sloth by his back and snuffed out the fire by making him sit on a pile of snow in between him and Taura, making Sid sigh in relief.

"Thank you! From now on, I'm gonna call you Diego!" Sid thanked him as he touched his shoulder gratefully. Taura felt one of her eyebrows quirk in humor as she thought about what he said: _"Come to think of it...he never actually called Diego by his name..."_ Taura shrugged her shoulders as if to say 'huh, what do ya know?'.

Diego looked down at Sid and growled at him with narrowed eyes "Lord of Touch Me and You're Dead!" making Sid flinch and retract his hand before Diego chuckled goodnaturedly and started to give his favorite sloth a noogie "Ah, I'm just kidding ya little knucklehead!" Taura giggled at the sight as she shook her head at the two; if she didn't know any better, she would've thought they were pals or something.

"Hey lovebirds, look at this." Manny called out, causing the playing trio to look back at the mammoth. They felt their eyes widen in surprise as they saw the baby standing up and trying to walk by shuffling his feet forward clumsily one at a time, Manny's trunk supporting him by his back.

"I don't believe it!" Sid whispered incredulously, looking at the two sabers with a proud grin, to which they smiled back. The baby continued to shuffle forwards and soon enough, he was walking by himself without Manny's help! He was making his way towards Sid, making him widen his arms in a welcoming gesture.

"C'mere you little cutie!" Sid cooed at the baby, encouraging him to come forwards as his fingers pointed at himself. "C'mere you little wormie worm! Come to Uncle Sid!"

The baby then looked towards Diego, causing him and Taura to widen their eyes in surprise as he moved towards them. Taura felt herself smirk as she saw Diego awkwardly order the kid to turn back to his 'uncle sid', she moved back to give the kid more access to Diego, making him heatedly glare at her which only caused her amused smirk to widen even more. _"I mean, come on! An embarrassed Diego getting a kid cuddling onto his leg? This is a ONCE IN A FRIGGIN LIFETIME opportunity!"_ She giggled inwardly as she saw the baby collapse onto Diego's paws. The baby looked up at his favorite tiger with a toothless grin as if expecting a compliment.

"Umm...okay?" Diego mumbled with a sheepish grin, trying to not look directly at the adorable smile on the baby's face as he gurgled back a gibberish reply. "Good job...um, keep practicing..." Diego congratulated him as he pushed him back up gently onto his feet with his paw before turning him back around to Manny. He finally sat down again,but then looked back to find Taura grinning at him cheekily. _"Aw, you really ARE a softy on the inside!"_ She teased as she bumped her shoulders with his. Diego narrowed his eyes at her with an annoyed frown before turning back to the fire, trying to ignore her comment as he lay down, Taura laying next to him.

"Look at that, our little guy's grown up." Sid chuckled as the baby finally collapsed with an adorable sneeze. Pinky then started to yawn while his fists rubbed his eyes tiredly.

"Alright, come on, sleep time Pinky," Manny said as he picked up the baby with his trunk and placed him by his side as he lay down next to the fire, leaning against the wall.

"Look at that little pushover," Sid shook his head at Manny while taking a seat next to Diego. "Y'know Diego," Sid pondered out loud, catching said saber's attention "I never had a friend who would risk his life for me..."

"Yeah, Manny's...he's a good guy." Diego muttered, nodding his head in agreement while looking at Manny.

"Yeah he is..." Sid agreed, before finally yawning "Well, goodnight!" The sloth lay back onto the ground, curling up and quickly falling asleep. Diego lay his head on top of his paws, but looked out worriedly at Half Peak. He then looked at Taura, only to find her fast asleep. Diego thought about what Sid said and couldn't help but think about what they were going to do when they were finally going to reach Half Peak...He thought he had an idea of what would happen, he just hoped that Taura would stick by his decision, no matter what...


	10. Arguments and Final Battles

**Okay, here's another chapter! WE HAVE REACHED THE FINAL CHAPTER OF ICE AGE 1! XD Well, THE NEXT CHAPTER IS THE LAST ONE! Just incase u guys r wondering, nope, not gonna put ice age 2 in another story. Gonna keep it in this one to keep things simple for ppl who might be looking for it. A lot of u guys have been wondering what would happen at half peak so I decided to try and update this as soon as possible!**

**And here r the replies to ur reviews of epicness:**

**Villains' Bad Girl: Well, you're just gonna have to find out in this chapter won't ya! ;P**

**Shiego627: Aw, thanks! Glad u thought so! Here's another update!**

**TimberPaw: Yeh, she probabl likes Sid more than Manny becuz of how grumpy he can be! XD And as for the rest of ur questions...well, u're just gonna hav to find out in this chappie! XP**

**Btw, _Italics in the first part will mean a flashback, in the next one it'll be normal. _**

**Warning: OC pairing, Don't like, DON'T READ!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own the Ice Age franchise or any of the characters in it; that all belongs to Blue Sky**

* * *

It would be safe to say that Taura was officially pissed.

The female was marching away through the snow at a fast pace, looking like she would have steam blowing out of her ears at any moment. Her nostrils were flaring, her one eye narrowed while the other scarred one squinted in fury and her mouth was set in an ever-present frown that showed off her bared fangs. But beneath that angry façade, she felt like her heart plummeted to her stomach and her insides were frozen and hollow with sadness. Taura blinked away any tears that would've given away her miserable emotions beneath and chanted her brother's favorite line while marching in her head: _"Never show weakness, never how you care, never show weakness, never show you care..."_ over and over again.

But no matter how many times she chanted that, she couldn't forget the feeling of hurt that overcame her when she remembered her argument with Diego...

* * *

_Taura woke up to find the sky still dark and the fireplace no longer burning, now it was nothing more than a pile of smoking ash. She got up, let out a short, silent yawn, stretched her front legs and went out for a quick snack. "Bound to be some hibernating mole somewhere around here..." Taura thought as she dug around in the early morning. When she came back with Diego's snack in her mouth (a dead mouse), she found her favorite four (including the baby) still sleeping around the fire: Sid was lying on his back in some funny position, mouth open and snoring and mumbling in his sleep about some snack; Manny was silently sleeping with the baby tucked safely close to him in his trunk, his eyes twitching ever so often in his sleep; Diego had his head placed on top of his paws, his back rising up and down at a steady pace with his breathing and his sideburns would occasionally shift whenever the occasional wind blew by them. _

_Taura felt a twinge of guilt at what she was about to do, and it wasn't because of waking her best friend from his sleep. Ever since Manny saved Diego from nearly falling to his death, Taura felt eternally grateful to him. Watching Kraz die before her was bad enough, having to watch the only person you had left in your life fall to his death before you...she didn't know what she would've done without him by her side anymore. After thinking about it for some time while faking sleep last night, she decided to betray her own pack and to help her new friends (yes, that is what she officially felt they were to her now) return the baby back to its herd. _

_If it was just by herself, she wouldn't have had no problem waking the two mammals up right now and telling them everything. Only problem was, she wasn't by herself; Diego was still in on this mission and she didn't know whether he would agree with her or not. That is what she was going to tell him this early in the morning. "Hopefully the extra snack will put him in a better mood before I break the news to him" She thought grimly with a wry smile._

_Taura gently pushed Diego's shoulder with her nose, while trying not to smear any blood from the mouse on his golden pelt._

_"Diego, come on, wake up!" Diego heard Taura's voice gently try to wake him up in his head, making him blink his eyes several times before finally opening them. He saw Taura's amber eyes stare at him, but it was what was in her mouth that caught his attention. "I got you breakfast!" She whispered cheerfully with a grin that would've been wider had it not been for the dead mouse stuck between her teeth. Diego looked at her with confused eyes and a raised eyebrow; it was very strange for her to get him breakfast since whenever they went off hunting, whoever caught something would claim it as theirs. Plus with Taura's gluttonous character, she rarely ever shared!_

_"It's not poisoned is it?" He asked her, eyeing the piece of meat with suspicion, causing her to giggle when she finally put it down in front of him. _

_"No silly! If I did want to kill you, I would've wanted to see the smug smirk wiped off your face with my own claws" She giggled with fake-evilness as she licked whatever pieced were left off her teeth. Diego still stared at the piece of meat for a short while, but decided that this would probably never happen again in the near future so what the heck. He quickly snatched the rodent and was able to swallow it hole in one bite._

_"I uh, should've probably gotten something bigger..." She chuckled nervously, looking at Diego with a disbelieving look as he licked his paw clean._

_"No no, it was fine." He assured her with a small smile before adding in quietly "Thanks..." making her smile even wider. Unfortunately, it didn't last long before a much more nervous and agitated look came over her, making her look down at the ground. She didn't know if she was able to look Diego in the eyes at what she was about to say next...but she had to try..._

_"You okay?" Diego asked her worriedly, noticing her damp mood while trying to catch her downcast eyes "You don't look so-"_

_"I'm not doing it."_

_Diego looked at his female friend in shock at what she randomly blurted out. "Uh...come again?" Diego asked her, not sure if he heard her correctly, and even if he did, he wasn't sure what she was talking about anyways. Taura looked up at him, staring straight into his eyes with determination as her mouth was set in a firm line._

_"I'm not doing it," She repeated, only this time clarifying "I can't lead Manny and Sid to the trap,"_

_Diego's eyes widened at what she said, he had no idea where this sudden change of attitude came from but he kept a calm face and replied "I know you might seem reluctant to sell them out, but we need to do this for-" Taura interrupted him again, causing him to feel a little irked and her raise voice didn't help either._

_"But don't you see that those two have nothing to do with the humans?" She exclaimed at him, her eyes begging him to understand "Manny saved your life for crying out loud! Do you know how scared I was of losing you that day?! And now you wanna repay them by taking them to their death?!"_

_"Well it's too late now!" Diego snapped at Taura, her voice now getting caught in her throat at the sharpness of Diego's voice. The truth was, Diego knew that Taura was right on the dot, but he didn't want to admit it. Not when they were so close. "We're already less than three miles away from Half Peak and now you're getting cold feet and just randomly asking to abandon the pack where we were born and raised in?! You're just willing to forgive and forget what the humans did to our family? TO YOUR BROTHER?! OR DO YOU JUST NOT CARE FOR HIM THAT MUCH AND WOULD RATHER RUN AWAY WITH YOUR TAIL BETWEEN YOUR LEGS LIKE A WEAK MUTT?!" He finally finished with a yell, breathing deeply through his nose as he glared at her._

_Taura stood still as she leaned away from Diego who's nose was mere inches away from hers from when he was marching closer and closer to her with every accusation her threw at her. When Diego finally simmered down, the full extent of his words finally crashed down on him as guilt filled his stomach when he looked at Taura's hurt and tear-glazed eyes, looking like she was just stabbed in the back. _

_Diego was about to apologize until Taura's eyes suddenly took an enraged look, shocking him into silence, and suddenly pounced on top of him with her teeth bared and her chest rumbling against his as she growled at him threateningly._

_"Let me clarify for you buddy, since you're obviously deranged enough to think I'm a mutt!" She spat at him, her glaring amber eyes staring right into his shocked hazel ones. Suddenly, her voice took a much more quieter and chilling tone "Don't you ever DARE accuse me of not caring about my brother! I just happen to have to be reminded of his bloody, lifeless face every SINGLE FUCKING NIGHT!" shouting out her last three words, making Diego's eyes widen even further from the fact that this was the first time he had ever heard her cuss. She then leaned back from his face with a scrunched up nose and a scowl, as if the mere scent of him disgusted her. _

_"Normally I would tear off your tongue and shove it up your ass for what you said, but I don't want to contaminate my claws with your filth!" Taura spat at him before finally unpinning him from the ground and getting off of him. Diego sat up and brushed the dirt off his shoulders as he glared at her._

_"Then let me give you a piece of advise," Diego seethed at Taura, her determined eyes never yielding away from his "Do us all a favor, and just leave." Taura's eyes grew bigger from what he said, softening from their steeled gaze and turning into their more hurt shade. Diego tried to ignore the guilt that was bubbling inside his stomach and continued with a dead and serious tone "If you're going to get in my way, I'm going to kill you, so if you want to avoid that and don't want to be a part of this, then I suggest you just leave and never return."_

_Taura felt tears starting to spring at the back of her eyes, but she shook her head and steeled her eyes back into their cold glare. "Fine." She huffed, and did exactly as what Diego advised her to do: she marched away back into the snow landscape...and didn't turn back._

* * *

As Taura replayed the scene again at the back of her mind, she finally let a single small tear fall from her scarred eye before quickly wiping it away. She didn't know what hurt more: the names that he called her, the fact that Diego would just ask her to leave just like that, as if their last years together meant nothing or the accusations of her not caring for her brother. It didn't matter anyways, because all three of them pierced her heart like cold, sharp knives that wouldn't release their icy grip from her insides.

She was about to continue her march forward, but decided to take a break for her aching feet. It was now nearly mid-day and Taura never stopped walking from the moment she started back at the camp they made. Now she could feel the dark bags underneath her eyes and how every single bone in her legs seemed to ache and plead for a minute of rest.

Just as she was about to continue walking, she paused in her steps as she heard a large bellow far away. Her eyes widened as she realized that the roar sounded a lot like Soto's voice.

_"Oh no..."_

* * *

"Ugh, come on you stupid piece of bark!" Manny grumbled,

So far the plan was going well: Diego was keeping up his act and Sid was distracting the sabers. The sloth was heading Manny's way right now, but the mammoth was having difficulty getting the jammed log out of one of the cave cracks that they hid it in. Manny gave one final heave but the log still had a bit of its end inside and refused to move no matter how much force Manny continued to pull it with. Suddenly, the log was given an anonymous shove that popped it out, causing Manny to fall over from the surprise force. Manny looked over to find the log roll over to a pair of familiar beige and brown legs.

"Taura?!" Manny exclaimed in surprise as he found her standing there with a deadpanned look that said 'No, it's the Easter bunny...Who do you think it is?!'. This morning when Manny and Sid didn't find her, Diego simply told them that she had to leave for some business with her pack. Sid pointed out that he seemed more angry and grouchy than usual, to which he replied by snapping at him that it was none of his business.

"How did you find us?" Manny asked her as he got up and picked up the log and balanced it on his tusks. She replied by grinning up at him and tapping her nose, indicating that she followed them by scent. Manny was about to inquire further until he heard a distant shuffling and growling from afar, making him narrow his eyes in concentration as he tried to figure out from which direction it was coming from.

"Taura, I would explain to you the plan, but I need you to hide inside here and quick!" Manny said in a quick voice, hurriedly shoving her towards the cave crack on the cliff side that they used to hide the log previously. Taura was about to object until she heard the familiar growls and roars of her pack mates and quickly went inside and ducked inside the cave with her face facing the entrance. The spot was rather cramped and was barely big enough than her waistline.

As she ducked in the dark of the cave, she saw the pack members running into Manny who smiled at them slyly and yelled out "SURPRISE!" before hitting them all with his log, causing them to fall over the cliff and land below. Taura was about to come out until a familiar voice caused her to quickly go back in.

"Okay, follow me!" Diego called out "We'll pick up Sid and get out of here while we can!"

Taura blinked in surprise at what he said. Wasn't this the part where Soto and the others would rip Manny apart and take the baby? What was Diego doing? _"Could he have possibly..."_ Taura thought, her eyes widening in surprise at the idea. She was broken away from her thoughts when a deeper voice echoed through the area.

"Come on Diego..." Soto beckoned his right hand man, Taura shuffled closer to the entrance far enough to see Soto stalking towards Manny with Diego right beside him. "Let's bring this mammoth down!"

Taura was about to come out from her hiding place when she saw the two of them stalking towards the mammoth, ready to defend Manny even if it was two on one until she paused in her steps when she saw Diego cut off Soto by standing protectively in front of Manny, who's defensive glare morphed into a surprise glance as he looked at Diego.

"What are you doing?!" Soto demanded,

"Leave. The mammoth. Alone." Diego growled at him threateningly, his eyes narrowed into two glaring slits. Soto stood there and glared at his used-to-be pack member until he felt the presence of Lenny and Oscar coming up behind him, as if backing him up. Taura grit her teeth in frustration as she saw the hopeless position Diego was put in. She would've thought that it would take those two longer to recover from that strong hit Manny delivered.

Soto glanced at his two pack mates before glaring back at Diego "Fine, I'll take you down first." Soto seethed as he and Diego started to circle each other. The air was so thick with tension that a knife would've been stuck half-way if it tried to cut through it. Finally, the two big males pounced at each other while exchanging blows, both of them trying to swipe and claw at each other's faces. Taura saw Manny trying to come to Diego's aid only to be cut off by Oscar and Lenny as they both tried to have a bite off of his feet, which left Manny trapped in his corner. Taura decided that this is where she would come in.

Just as Oscar was about to take a swipe at one of the mammoth's legs, he felt something collide and pierce at his side as he fell down and rolled in the snow. Whatever it was that landed on him, it quickly bounced off and left obvious claw piercings on his pelt. Oscar growled in annoyance and stood up to face whatever decided to but in only to face the surprising presence of the missing female member.

"Well, well. it's our favorite little scar-face!" Oscar sneered at Taura with a scowl, who stood in front of Manny protectively.

_"Long time no see Oscar,"_ Taura snorted as she smirked at them both confidently, _"Although not long enough in my opinion..."_

Oscar growled at her while glancing between her and the mammoth, who was looking at Taura with an annoyed expression. "I thought I told you to stay in the cave!" Manny yelled at her with a glower. Taura responded by looking at him with a look that easily translated to _"Did you really think I'd listen?" _as she raised an eyebrow at the mammoth.

Lenny took the opportunity while the female feline was distracted to pounce on her, but to no avail as she quickly dodged out of the way by rolling to the side. _"I really didn't think it through when I came out did I.."_ Taura smirked wryly as she dashed left, right and back away from the swipes and lunges of Lenny and Oscar, Manny usually helping her by swiping at them with his trunk. Not only was she outnumbered, but both of her opponents were twice as large as her. While they were more bulky and strong, Taura was more thin, sleek and half their size. If either of them got her pinned, it was game over.

A sudden loud thud caused Taura to look up for a moment to find Diego unconscious against a rock, causing her eyes to widen in panic and worry. _"Oh no...not again...dear god, please not now!"_ Taura prayed to whatever deity above to let Diego be okay, but her worried expression only lasted for a moment before she went back to glaring to her now THREE opponents.

"My, my, if it isn't our long lost mute female." Soto smirked evilly as he and his companions stalked towards Taura and Manny. Taura held her ground and growled Soto threateningly as she crouched low, ready to pounce. "It doesn't really surprise me that you've also betrayed us. Since you're Diego's little pet, you would follow him wherever he goes, wouldn't you?" Soto drawled as his smirk widened. Taura ignored him and glanced around desperately for anything, ANYTHING that would help them at all, but she knew it was no use. Manny's hind quarters were already up against the wall and it was now three against two, but Taura swore that if it was the last thing she did, she would die trying!

Taura saw Soto lower himself to the ground, wiggle his hind legs and getting ready to pounce. Taura shut her eyes tightly, waiting for his piercing fangs to cut through her as she heard his legs finally leave the ground. When she didn't fell any pain on any part of her, she blinked open her eyes only for them to widen in horror at finding Diego in between her and Soto, lying on the floor. Just as Soto was about to swipe at Diego, Taura shot her claws at him like a rocket, making sure to give him three, deep, runny scars on his cheek.

_"Keep your paws off him you bastard!"_ She roared at him both mentally and outwardly as she now stood protectively over Diego and Manfred. Soto's eyes were now burning with rage at the female who dared to lay her claws at him, but before he could return the favor, he heard a wailing cry ahead. He looked up to find the sloth that they were chasing...holding the human baby in his arms. Soto started to smirk in triumph and stalk his way towards the sloth, but Manny glared at the saber and took this chance to swipe Soto and hit him sideways, making him fly and hit the opposite wall.

Taura heard a jingling noise from above only to find icicles shaking dangerously...right above Soto. All mammals looked at the shaking icicles until finally, they all landed on Soto, piercing his body and killing him instantly. Lenny and Oscar winced and looked away for a moment before looking back at their frozen and dead leader. They then looked at Manny and Taura with worry, who returned their stares with heated glares and deep, threatening growls. The two male sabers took the hint and ran away hurriedly with their tails between their legs.

Sid shuffled towards them both and started to grin triumphantly. "We did it!" He half-whispered, half-exclaimed as he jumped while raising a fist in the air. Taura didn't share in his excitement and quickly ran towards the now worryingly still Diego. She gently nuzzled her face with his, trying to get his to wake up. When he did, it only made her heart plummet even further when she met the dimly-lit hazel eyes that were usually full of arrogance and slyness.

_"Diego..."_


	11. Final Chapter of Volume I

**Guys, we've finally done it! THE FINAL CHAPTER OF ICE AGE 1 ! XD Thanks for all ur lovely reviews, couldn't have done it without u guys! Hope to see u at Ice age 2, which I hope will soon be updated! So no need to wait for long!  
**

**And normally, this is where I reply to all ur reviews, but I really need to get this chapter up quickly so again: THANK U ALL SOO MUCH! WILL BE CONTINUING AND PLZ KEEP UP UR LOVELY REVIEWS, CUZ THEY MEAN THAT MUCH TO ME!**

**Btw, _Italics in the first part will mean a flashback, in the next one it'll be normal. _**

**Warning: OC pairing, Don't like, DON'T READ!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own the Ice Age franchise or any of the characters in it; that all belongs to Blue Sky**

* * *

Taura whimpered faintly as she nudged Diego's head again as he started to close his eyes again. He glanced at her and gave a her small smile of gratitude.

"Thanks...for coming..." He said faintly, his croaking voice making Taura wince even further. He sounded so weak...Taura responded by giving him a small grin that almost resembled a grimace, but her eyes still held their miserable look.

_"Like I would ever leave you to your own stupidity..."_ Taura murmured, finally removing her head away from his but remained close as she sat next to him.

"We were...some team, huh?" Diego sighed as he looked at Manny, who stood next to him with miserable brown eyes.

He then put on a forced smile and tried to encourage Diego "Were? Come on, we're still a team..."

Diego didn't return his smile and placed his head back in the snow as he sighed again in defeat. "I'm uh, sorry I set you up..."

Sid shuffled towards him and placed the kid next to him, his usually smiling and optimistic face now set with a sombre frown. "Ah, you know me. I'm to lazy to hold the little runt..." Sid said jokingly, trying to lighten the mood. The baby crawled towards Diego's face and placed his hand against his nose, whimpering sadly at the weak saber, causing Taura's heart to crack even further.

"Hey, knock it off squirt!" Diego jokingly-scolded faintly, his voice growing sore. "You gotta be strong. You gotta take care of Manfred and Sid...especially Sid. And as for Taura...well, she can take care of herself." Diego ended his sentence with a tight-lipped smile towards the said female who sat next to him,her eyes blinking from un-shead tears.

"Come on, you can lick this!" Sid whined, trying to sound encouraging as he closed both his claws into fists "You're a tiger! Look, I'll...carry you! Come on, what do you say?"

Taura tried to not look at the hopeful face of the sloth, as she knew that it was no use and that Diego was too hurt to be getting up anytime soon. She kept staring at Diego, who lay there rather still, his eyes closing shut every now and then as his breaths started to sound raspy.

"Come on, Diego, come on!" Sid said, then looked up at Manny with his sad hopeful eyes "Tell him he's gonna be okay Manny!"

Manny didn't reply and kept staring at Diego with a heartbroken expression, who met his gaze with a serious face. The baby glanced up at Manny with innocent red eyes, as if hoping that his favorite mammoth would be able to heal him.

"Listen, you'll have to leave me here." Diego told them, gesturing towards Glacier Pass in the distance "If those humans get through the pass, you'll never catch them."

Manny stood silent for a moment before muttering with a cracking voice "You didn't have to do that..."

Diego then looked up at Manny with another faint smile and replied "That's what you do in a herd..." before finally laying his head in the snow and shutting his eyes for the last time. Taura shut her eyes tightly and ducking her head, trying to hide the tears that had finally flown down her cheeks. _"If I just made it sooner...if I just didn't leave them..."_

The baby tried to reach out for Diego again, but Manny held him back and curled his trunk around his waist, picking him up off the snow floor at the same time. Manny and Sid stayed there for a while, staring at their friend...their herd member, with miserable, weeping eyes, as if mourning for their friend. Manny stopped staring at Diego for a while before setting his eyes on the very still female saber, who sat with her back turned towards them.

"You don't wanna come with us?" Manny asked her, his voice barely louder than a whisper. When Taura turned her head, her crying, puffy eyes and trembling lip was all that Manny needed to know her answer. Sid glanced at her with shocked eyes; it was very surprising to see their favorite female feline, who was usually bouncing with happiness, with wet cheeks and silently sobbing in front of her weak companion.

"Come on Sid," Manny said, gently pushing the sloth's shoulder. "We'll have to go."

Sid glanced worriedly from Manny back to Taura, wondering if she was going to come with them. When she didn't respond to the feeling of his eyes staring at her with concern, Sid finally shuffled off with Manny, quietly making their way to their final destination. When Taura heard their final footsteps finally reach out of her hearing distance, she was left to her now much louder thoughts that were buzzing with unanswered questions:

_"Is this it? Am I gonna be left along again? Where will I go? Do I go with them? Will Diego die...here?..."_ After crossing through every single question in her head with misery and nostalgia, she suddenly had an epiphany. Taura's eyes widened in realization as she felt her scarred eyelid twitch at the memory she thought of. Taura quickly wiped away any tears soaking her cheeks and stood up with a new burst of determination. Taura's eyes were burning with self-assurance and her mouth stopped trembling and was set in a firm line. She looked one last time at Diego's still form and glanced at his chest that was moving up and down.

_"Still breathing...good."_ And with that Taura quickly sprinted as fast as she could towards the different caves of Half Peak that weren't as affected from the cold weather, praying that Diego would hang on a little longer. _"You better stay alive, or I'm going to bring you back from the grave and kill you myself!"_ Taura growled in her head as she sprinted even faster, heading towards the familiar sights of the infiltration troop caves.

As those thoughts crossed her mind, she realized that she wasn't answering the bigger question. The question wasn't whether Diego was going to die or not. The real question was: Was she going to just LET him die? And she sure as heck knew that she wasn't going to let another person she cared about die in front of her again. She kept repeating to herself that Diego was going to make it over and over again as she gathered as much of the dry pieces of leaves and grass into her mouth, while running back to Diego and while she patched up his beaten up shoulder and neck.

* * *

_"Diego...are you SURE you're able to walk?"_ Taura asked for the thousandth time, her eyes glancing worriedly at Diego's now patched-up shoulder.

Taura made sure to use the medicinal grass and blended it with the snow in her mouth before applying it on Diego's wound. She then wrapped it up with the giant banana leaves that she used last time on Diego's wounded leg. Later on, Diego started to blink open his eyes to the sight of a very euphoric Taura who hugged him very tightly as soon as he woke up. She finally let go when he complained of lack of breath, but only ended up being punched on the head and threatened that if he ever did that again Taura would _"rip your tail off and shove it down your throat!"_. Of course, Diego knew that was just her way of saying _"I was really worried, glad you're alive!"_ so he just smiled at her and thanked her for healing his shoulder.

Soon, Taura helped him up and let him lean some of his weight on her as they both walked towards Glacier Pass. But along the way, Taura kept glancing with concern at his patched up shoulder, now wrapped up in a leaf, and kept asking if it didn't hurt or if it needed any tightening up. He would always reply with an annoyed roll of his eyes that it was fine and she didn't need to worry about it.

Diego, again, rolled his eyes and sighed exasperatedly "Yes, for the last time, it's fine Taura! Stop worrying about it!"

Taura was about to retort, but when they walked to the top of the snow dune that they were on, she grinned very widely at the sight of their two favorite herbivores. Manny was staring at Diego in surprise with a very big happy smile, but Sid was too busy waving away sadly at the baby and blubbering out goodbye's while sniffing away. Just as they both came up, they saw the baby cover its eyes and then flash them open, doing the same 'peek-a-boo' trick Diego did with him. Diego smiled softly at the little baby and replied with the same gesture with only one of his paws before waving the baby goodbye, who then finally disappeared into the distance.

"Goodbye..." Sid blubbered one last time, with his back turned towards them.

"Save your breath Sid," Diego said as he walked up towards them with Taura in tow "You know humans can't talk."

Sid stood up straight in surprise and turned around to see his favorite tiger standing there in the flesh. "Diego?! YOU'RE OKAY!" Sid yelled out in happiness with a big grin as he ran towards them.

Diego smirked cockily before yelling back "Nine lives, baby!"

Taura rolled her eyes at him but didn't fight off the happy smile that came across her face when she saw that familiar arrogant glimmer in his eyes once again. But what Sid did next caused her smile to widen into a full-blown grin as she started to giggle at the hilarious scene that started to unfold.

Sid ran headfirst towards Diego and jumped right at him, causing them to tumble back before they both stood up again. This time, Sid had a hold of Diego's head while he gave him a noogie and grinning very widely before punching Diego's shoulder in happiness, causing the saber to yell out in pain. Taura growled warningly at Sid for punching the same shoulder she worked hard to heal back to health, but the sloth ignored her and before you know it...he starting kissing Diego's forehead.

"I could kiss ya! Mwah, mwah, mwah!" Sid exclaimed with his same idiotic grin as he kissed away, but soon realized his action and jumped away from the cat as he started to spit away the fur and wipe his tongue with his claws. Taura stood back and laughed silently at the whole thing, not sympathizing at all with the abused Diego as he glared at Sid with a disgusted frown. Manny walked up towards them both with a blissful smile, just happy that Diego was walking and alive and that Taura was coming with them.

"Well welcome back you two, want a lift Diego?" Manny offered as he gestured towards his back,

Diego held up his finger as he shook his head "No thanks! I gotta save whatever dignity I got left!" Diego declined as he smiled at Manny.

"You're hanging with us now buddy!" Sid proclaimed happily as he beamed at the two sabers "Dignities got nothing to do with it! But I'll take that lift!" Sid then added innocently as he pointed his hand upwards eagerly at Manny. Taura shook her head at her favorite sloth, anticipating that Manny was going to decline but was surprised when the mammoth actually let the sloth clamber up his shoulder and sit on his back.

"Yeah, climb aboard!" Manny said with an easy-going grin as he leaned down and let Sid climb up.

"Yeeha! Mush!" Sid yelled out as he sat on Manny's back, pointing his finger up ahead like some captain. Manny glared up at the sloth warningly, causing him to shrink back his arm.

"Or uh..don't mush! Either way!" Sid chuckled nervously as Manny walked ahead, while Diego and Taura shook their heads at the two as they followed along. Taura stared fondly at her three companions, now thinking for sure that there was no other herd that she would rather travel with for the rest of her life.

"This is gonna be the best migration ever! I'm gonna show you all my favorite water holes! And I turn brown when all the fungus dries off!" Sid rambled

"Sounds very attractive" Manny sarcastically replied,

"You know, this whole Ice Age thing is getting old. Ya know what I would go for? Global warming!" Sid proclaimed,

"Keep dreaming..." Diego drawled,

"No really!" Sid yelled out defensively,

_"Something tells me, that this is going to be one LO-ONG migration..."_


	12. Introduction II

**So here we go guys! Moving on to Ice Age 2!**

**I would normally reply to ur awesome reviews, but I have an important thing to address:**

**I was originally going to continue this story all the way up to Ice Age 4, but now I'm starting to have doubts. I did have a suggestion thrown at me to finish this story at Ice Age 3 and avoid the hater comments that might ensue if I continued Taura into Ice Age 4 as a romantic interest instead of Shira.**

**Plz tell me what you think with ur reviews or PM or whatever! Cuz not really sure if I should go into Ice Age 4.**

**_Italics means telepathic communication_**

**Warning: OC pairing, Don't like, DON'T READ!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own the Ice Age franchise or any of the characters in it; that all belongs to Blue Sky**

* * *

_"Okay okay, THIS TIME I'll get it for sure!" _

After a long and tiring walk consisting of Sid's horrible singing and Diego's threats to rip his vocal chords off, the four finally reached their destination and caught up with the migration in the end. Turns out, at the end of their journey was a large...waterpark-type landscape...thing. Taura had never seen anything like it, but she wasn't complaining; for her, it was love at first sight! Taura didn't mind the cold weather, but after walking for days in a landscape that consisted of nothing but snow, icicles, cliffs and more snow, she was starting to miss the warm summer days.

She would daydream sometimes of the days were the grass was wet and itchy beneath her clawed paws and how the air would smell of morning dew and blossoming flowers. In her original pack, the weather was mostly warm and so it was normal for some sabers to know how to swim when they needed to cool down. And to find a place that provided the warm climate that she was missing and the awesome, fun waterslides and activities, Taura couldn't ask for more!

As soon as the four settled down, Taura didn't hesitate to run up to the first slide that she could queue up for (although at first, the herbivores let her cut the line because of fear that she would eat them if they didn't). After almost a few hours of swimming, sliding and diving, Taura would eventually come out only to try and convince the others to come join her. Sid sometimes eagerly accompanied her, both falling into a fit of giggles as they both took turns to try and out-flip each other with silly stunts while they dove into the water. Diego would just roll his eyes at the two and their childish antics while he lounged nearby, bathing in the sun while taking a catnap.

Taura noticed that whenever she tried to convince Diego to join her, he would always decline and whenever he sat around someplace, it would always be a safe distance away from a slide or a pool. Taura shook it off as probably him not wanting to waste his naps bathing in the sun, but he always lay nearby when Sid played with her, claiming that he wanted to "make sure that you two idiots don't eventually drown yourselves" to which she would huff and dive into the water, making sure that she made a big splash in hopes that some drops would land on her annoyingly cocky friend.

After a few days, Sid stopped playing with her and to start inviting kids to his own 'summer camp'. Sid offered her to help him as his "lovely assistant", but Taura politely declined with an embarrassed chuckle. With Sid out, Taura was left to either lounge about with Diego or go down the slides by herself. She did try once to convince Manny to dive in, but a grumpy, dry look from him was all it took for Taura to get the message. Eventually though, Taura came up with an idea to try and perform flips while Diego would act as a judge. It took a lot of convincing, but Diego eventually complied with a condition that she would catch for him his dinner every few other days at night.

Taura was now trying to perform her best stunt yet: the double front flip corkscrew! It is basically what the title suggests: it was a quick double front flip followed by a corkscrew dive. But Taura never had enough time to corkscrew by the time she did her second front flip and always ended up falling straight down into the water with a simple dive.

Diego rolled his eyes exasperatedly from his rock, "Enough already, aren't two front flips enough?"

Taura pouted at him irritably before climbing out of the water and plonking herself in front of Diego's rock. She analysed the slide that she slid through five times now trying to get the flip correct, her fingers stroking her chin as she thought.

Diego scoffed at what was supposed to be her thinking face and suggested "Why not just go on one of the higher slides? They would provide more speed?"

Taura looked up at the larger slides that Diego motioned to, the ones that looked more unstable and...scary and...frighteningly high...

Taura gave an involuntary shudder and secretly gulped before shaking her head vigorously. _"No thanks! I'll uh...try again later!"_

Taura quickly tried to avoid Diego's curious gaze by shaking off the water from her fur and licking off some imaginary smudges on her shoulder and paws. Diego raised an eyebrow at her weird behavior.

When they started hanging out with Manny and Sid, Taura started to loosen up again and show her more fun side by hanging out more with Sid and sometimes joining in on his fun escapades on the slides. Only Diego noticed that she would avoid the slides that were at a certain height and decide to stick to the ones that weren't so steep. Whenever he asked her about it, she would complain that the queue on those ones took so long and she couldn't be bothered to wait.

Taura glanced up from her grooming to fine Diego staring at her with a thoughtful look on his face, his intimidating green eyes making her stomach go funny (but not in a bad way) and for her cheeks to heat up a bit. She quickly turned and started to walk away before Diego could notice her heated cheeks.

_"I uh...gotta go meet up with Sid."_ She hastily said as she jutted her thumb to where the sloth would be, her eyes still avoiding Diego's now curious ones. _"I promised him that I would help him with something in-uh...his-uh, camp thing, yeah...um..see ya."_

Okay, now Diego was officially intrigued as to what was going on with his fellow saber. After months of travelling as a herd, Diego started to notice that Taura would avoid his eyes as much as possible when they were both alone and she would often try to escape by using some excuse, most of them Sid based. Back at Half Peak, Taura would usually use those rare moments with him to yap his ear off with her exciting ramblings about her latest catches or some cheesy jokes she would hear from human-bred wolves. If that was it, normally Diego would pass it off as probably some symptoms of female monthly's or whatever. But it wasn't.

When night came, Sid would create the usual fireplace and they would all sit around it and chat for awhile before going to sleep. Usually, Taura would lay next to him and giggle along to the funny stories that Sid would yap about until she finally got tired and went to sleep. Recently, Taura started to let Sid lay his head on her middle when he begged her to let him one night (something about some scary sloth-killing stories he heard some kids share) which made her sleep further away from him so as to give more space to the sloth. But that wasn't what bothered him, not like the stupid sloth made him jealous or anything!

Diego snorted at the thought _"Not by a long shot!"_

One night, Diego woke up to a sharp cracking sound of rock against rock. He looked around to find Manny and Sid laying on...the...ground. Taura wasn't there! Diego was about to get up and look for her when he heard that sound again, only this time it came from behind him. He decided to lay still and pretend he was asleep in case it was probably just some wandering scavenger, only to find that it was Taura! She quickly swiveled her head left and right, as if checking if anybody followed her and settles herself next to Sid. What with the sloth being a heavy sleeper, he didn't wake up even to the feeling of Taura picking up his head with her paw and plunking it on her stomach again. Ever since that night, Diego has been suspicious as to what she was doing and this night, he intended to follow her and find out where she has been going to all this time.

Diego was interrupted from his thoughts when he caught sight of Taura running up to him with an excited grin.

_"Diego, you better come quick! Sid's being tortured by a bunch of kindergartners!" _

Oh this he can't wait to see...


	13. Summer camps and Warnings from Birds

**Hey guys! I would've updated this chapter earlier, but some messed up crap happened with my tablet and I could go on with some lame-ass excuses, but I'm sure ya just wanna read my late update, so I'm gonna shorten this and skip the review replies. So I promise that I'll do them next update!**

**Oh, and as for the if I'm finishing this on Ice age 3 or Ice age 4...gonna wait until the next update. Cuz now, I'm gonna do a poll on my profile! PLZ VOTE THERE!**

**_Italics means telepathic communication_**

**Warning: OC pairing, Don't like, DON'T READ!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own the Ice Age franchise or any of the characters in it; that all belongs to Blue Sky**

* * *

True to Taura's word, she, Manny and Diego walked into the supposed 'summer camp' to find Sid in some sort of ditch while being squashed into it by a beaver girl bouncing on his head. Surrounding the tortured sloth were other kids of all kinds of species who were watching with childish amusement and excitement. Taura winced at their high and squealing laughter as they continued to watch Sid being buried; she really didn't like kids...at all. All her life, she has had bad experiences with them and plus, who wanted to have kids anyway? They're squirmy, icky and unsanitary! Who'd want to put up with that for the rest of their lives?

"Woah, woah!" Manny barged in, causing the beaver girl to hop off quickly and put her hand behind her, giving the three older mammals an innocent face. "Who said you kids could torture the sloth?"

Diego looked down at the buried Sid and smirked "Manny, don't squish their creativity." Taura rolled her eyes at his cruel sense of humor before walking up to Sid and shuffling some dirt off of his face so he can speak.

Sid sent a grateful grin towards Taura before beaming up at his two other pals "Hey Manny, Diego! My bad, mammal jammals! Wanna give a sloth a hand?"

Taura grinned back and shuffled to the side to let Manny help Sid out: he curled his trunk around Sid's neck and pulled him out, a strangled, eye-popping expression coming over Sid's face before Manny's trunk finally loosened and set him down on the ground.

"Look, I opened my camp!" Sid said excitedly to Diego, who looked at him with a deadpanned expression. "'Campo del Sid!' It means camp of Sid!"

"Congratulations, you're now an idiot in two lanuages." Diego congratulated him sarcastically, making Sid shush him as he eyed the kindergartners worriedly.

"Not in front of the K-I-D-Z!" Sid whispered not too conspiratorially to his saber friend before he looked happily at the kids, paticularly a turtle one. "These little guys love me! Right Billy?"

The turtle kid simply threatened him grumpily "Don't make me eat you!" making all the other kids laugh and giggle at the sloth again, while Taura winced again at their high-pitched squeals. Maybe if she stepped further away until she was next to Diego...

Manny rolled his eyes at Sid exasperatedly before scolding "I told you Sid, you're not qualified to run a camp!"

Sid simply waved his hand at him while commenting nonchalantly "Oh since when did qualifications have anything to do with child-care?" Taura gave Sid a weird look at what he said _"Uh...pretty sure you need those to take care of children..."_ She snorted mentally before noticing the beaver girl tying up Sid's legs while he rambled on about how proud he was of his children "Besides, these kids look up to me! I'm a role model to them-OOPH!"

No sooner did he finish his sentence did the two kids shove him from behind, making him topple over and fall on his back. He looked up to find Manny looking at him with bored eyes, Diego still had his deadpanned expression with amused eyes while Taura gave him a sympathetic look as she tried to help him up.

"You guys think that I can never do anything," Sid huffed as he shoved off Taura's paw angrily, making her eyes flash with a hurt expression for a second before she snorted at him and backed off. "But I'm an equal member of this herd! I. Made. This. Herd!" He enunciated his words as he pointed at himself for emphasis then towards the others. "So you guys need to start treating me with some respect!" He then huffed angrily before hopping off with his nose in the air, giving the others the cold shoulder.

"Come on Sid!" Manny called while looking back at the retreating figure of the sloth.

"Sid, we were just kidding!" Diego tried to console, but Sid didn't turn back around. Taura looked worriedly between Diego and Sid. _"Should I go after him?"_ Taura asked him, Diego simply shook his head at her. _"Nah, he'll be fine."_ Diego said, before Taura gave him a sarcastic look with her eyes that said "Really? This is Sid we're talking about."

"Hey!"

The three mammals looked down again to find the little kids still there, only this time the beaver girl was upfront with a stick in her paws.

"Let's play 'pin-the-tail-on-the-mammoth'!" She called out with an evil glint in her eyes, before roaring out in victory and shoving the stick in the air. All the other kids yelled out 'yay!' before they started to charge at the three.

"SID!" The two poor males called out with panicked eyes at the sloths, while Taura quickly rushed off to find Sid.

_"Sorry guys! You're on your own!" _There was no way she was going to let those kids lay their icky paws on her fur coat!

* * *

Taura looked through every slide and every swimming pool, but she couldn't find the familiar sight of her green sloth. Plus, her being a mute didn't exactly make it easier, since she couldn't ask anybody if they've seen the sloth and she couldn't call out his name either. It wasn't until the sun was at its highest peak in the sky did she find Sid climbing up the stair case leading towards the...Eviscerator...

Taura quickly ran up a few steps before she tapped Sid's shoulder, causing him to yell out and jump in fright on Taura as they both tumbled down the stair case again.

"Taura...?" Sid groaned out from his upside-down position on her back. All he got was a painful moan in reply from the collapsed saber, who quickly stood up making Sid yell out in surprise as he plopped back to the ground. He looked up to find Taura looking down on him with worried eyes and a nervous smile.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine!" Sid mumbled out as he got up on his own, not meeting her eyes since he was still angry at the other herd members. Taura felt her claws dig into the ground angrily at his huffing expression before she took a deep breath through her nose and calmed herself down. She tapped his shoulder again and looked at him with questioning eyes as she gestured towards the eviscerator.

"Oh...that?" Sid chuckled nervously, before coughing into his paw and shoving her away hastily "Nah, it's nothing, but wait, is that Diego calling you? Oh I'm sure you have better things to do than look at me climb a few steps nowrunalongIhopeyouhaveagoodtimewiththekids BYE!" He rambled quickly before giving her one final shove and waddling away quickly. Taura stared ahead with wide confused eyes.

_"Okay...he is definitely up to something...but what?"_

She quickly padded off to find Diego and Manny, hopefully they would know what that sloth would be up to. Why would a lazy guy like him try to climb up the evicerator...unless...

_"Oh no..."_ Taura's eyes widened in realization at what Sid was doing climbing up there, then she sped up into a sprint towards where she last saw the two mammals. Hopefully they'll be able to stop that idiot in time...

* * *

"Come on, don't listen to him! Fast Tony would sell his own mother for a grape!" Manny yelled out to the gathered crowd,

Taura found the two in the middle of a crowd that usually gather around to listen to Fast Tony's wacky ideas and products. Apparently Manny was trying to convince the audience that Fast Tony's preaching of 'doomsday flooding' was just a hoax. Taura tried to get Diego's attention by pulling on his shoulder, but he shoved her paw away.

"Not now Taura." Diego mumbled, not looking at her. Taura growled in annoyance and was about to pull even further until she heard some anteater call out.

"Hey buddy, not cast aspersions on your survival instincts, but haven't mammoths gone extinct?"

Manny looked at him with a raised eyebrow, "What are you talking about?"

The anteater snorted and retorted "I'm talking about you being the last of your kind!"

Diego and Taura looked up at Manny worriedly only to find him looking to the side nervously. "Uhh...your breath smells like ants!" He randomly blurted out. The anteater sniffed his breath for a minute before scoffing back.

"Be that as it may, when was the last time you saw another mammoth?" He smiled confidently,

Manny looked at him with wide eyes, having no answer to reply to for a moment. Taura scowled at the anteater angrily, didn't people these days know anything about sensitivity?!

"Nah! Don't pay attention to him Manny," Diego scoffed at the anteater, but Manny ignored him and tried to put up his own stubborn arguments.

"Mammoths can't go extinct, they're the biggest things on earth!" Manny retorted firmly.

"Well, what about the dinosaurs?" A female bird questioned,

Manny argued with a solid theory once again "The dinosaurs got cocky, they made enemies!"

"Look! Some idiot's going down the eviscerator!" Some bystander yelled out, causing the other animals to exclaim in surprise as they all looked up towards the giant waterfall structure. Taura's eyes widened in horror as she looked up to find Sid up on top of the eviscerator. _"Damn it...I'm too late..."_

"Oh please tell me that's not our idiot..." Manny annoyingly winced as he grumbled to Diego and looked up to find the shadowy silhouette of their friend on the top.

"Okay! I'm gonna jump on the count of three!" The echo-y voice of Sid called out from the top, He then started to shuffle nervously towards the edge of the waterfall with fear-stricken eyes. "One...two..."

"Sid! Don't move a muscle, we're coming up!" Manny yelled out to the sloth as he walked towards the waterfall structure. No sooner did he say that though did the audience behind the trio start to walk forward with eager faces as they chanted "Jump, Jump, Jump, Jump!" Taura was about to ignore them and run after Many towards Sid until she heard Diego chant along with them.

"Jump, Jump, Jump..." Diego chanted along with an excited face before he looked to find two pairs of eyes glaring at him. He then sheepishly looked to the side and apologized "Sorry..."

* * *

"Two and three one thousandths, Two and four one thousandths..." Sid muttered scarily, as his entire body hunched close in fear at the expecting leap.

It took a trio a while to run up the stair case, but when they climbed up, they didn't expect the sloth to still be at the top, counting at a very slow and un-eager pace.

"Sid!" Manny snapped at him, the sloth turned around sharply at the sound of the angry mammoths voice. Taura and Diego were also there on either side of Manny looking up at him. "What are you doing? Get down from there!"

Sid glared at the three and yelled back "No way! I'm gonna be the first to jump off the eviscerator and then you guys are gonna have to start showing me some respect!"

Manny narrowed his eyes even further at the annoying sloth and took a threatening step forward "If you jump off this the only respect you'll get is respect for the dead!"

"Come on Manny! He's not that stupid!" Diego scoffed at Manny while shaking his head at Sid, thinking that he didn't have the guts to do it. Sid turned his back towards the three and shook his hind, preparing for the leap. Manny's eyes widened in fear and he hurried forward to grab Sid, while Taura slapped her forehead in annoyance as she growled at Diego _"You HAD to say that didn't you?!" _

"Hey, I've been wrong before!" Diego retorted as he glanced at her with defensive eyes.

"Geronimo-OOMPH!" Sid bellowed as he jumped, only to get grabbed by the waist by Manny, who then chucked Sid over his head. Luckily, Sid managed to land right behind Manny, but the two then started to slide downwards...very fast...

"Hey watch it!" Diego yelled out as the two sped and crashed into him while Sid screamed in a feminine voice. Taura managed to side step out of the way only to watch as the three continued to slide until Diego was the only one left. It didn't take long for him to stop and collapse on his stomach.

_"Diego!"_ Taura yelled out in fright as she ran up towards him. Diego quickly got up onto his feet with a groan off pain, while Taura looked him over from top to bottom. _"Are you alright?"_

"Yeah yeah, I'm fine." Diego brushed her off and was about to make his way towards the others until he noticed the ice crack beneath his feet. The two sabers looked down worriedly to find the cracks get larger and they both quickly bolted out of the way. Taura was right behind Diego, who was hopping around like mad and trying to get away from the cracking ice, and noticed that the ice gave away right behind him as well leaving an expanse of water. Taura took another leap after Diego only to then slip on one of the ice blocks and fall into the water. Even her frightened yelp didn't disturb Diego as he jumped at Manny's face.

"Uh, Diego? Retract the claws please." Manny grumbled at the feline who was clinging onto the mammoth's face while panting heavily and looking at the water with panicked eyes.

Diego instantly snapped out of his fear-stricken trance and unpinned his claws from Manny's face as he climbed down. "Oh, right, sorry." He muttered sheepishly until he finally landed down.

"Y'know, if I didn't knw you better Diego, I'd think you were afraid of the water!" Sid chuckled at the saber, until Diego decided to sharply strangle the poor sloth's neck with a threatening growl.

"Okay, okay, good thing I know you better!" Sid squawked with a strangled voice out as he tried to pry Diego's claws away from his neck. Manny ignored the two and helped the shivering female saber up with his trunk, who then plopped down onto solid ice and gulped in as much air as she could while glaring at Diego.

"Guys...Fast Tony was right..." Manny called out as he looked out to the horizon with eyes widened in horror. Sid, Diego and Taura walked next to him (both Taura and Sid glaring at Diego) and saw the same sight, all their eyes widening with the same expression. "Everything's melting..."

In front of them, as far as the eye can see, was an expanse of dark blue water, held up by the gigantic ice cliffs that they were currently standing on. There were random chunks and layers of ice scattered here and there, mostly clustered up next to the ice walls.

"It's all gonna flood..." Manny mumbled solemnly before his eyes steeled up and hurriedly started to head towards the exit "Come on, we've gotta warn them."

Sid stood there while scratching his belly with a pondering expression "Hmm...maybe we can rapidly evolve into water creatures?"

Diego rolled his eyes at him before drawling out sarcastically "That's genius Sid..." before walking away after Manny with Taura following him as she shook the water off her fur.

Sid apparently didn't get Diego's sarcastic remark and replied with a smug grin "Call me squid!" before shuffling after them. Taura heard Sid mumble something or other about their home being a dump, but didn't pay attention until she heard him bang against the ice floor, causing a giant rumbling noise to erupt throughout the bridge they were walking on. The trio looked down in panic before looking at Sid with angry eyes.

Sid gave them an innocent, questioning look "What?"

Unfortunately, they didn't have time to answer that question before the ice gave out beneath them entirely...

**CRACK!**

"AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

Soon, they were all falling along the waterfall and heading down at a rapid pace towards the pond below while they screamed their lungs off. Manny was skidding against the water on his back while Sid clung to his trunk and Taura and Diego were hanging onto his tusks on either side. As they hurtled towards the bottom, Taura clung harder onto Manny's tough fur and clenched her eyes shut as she waited for them to plummet to the ice below the water. Only, instead of feeling the chilling cold, Taura continued to feel them skidding across the water surface and eventually slide to a stop. Taura blinked her eyes open to find them...in the exact same position that they were when trying to convince the audience of Fast Tony's lies.

Speaking of the armadillo, he peaked his head out of his protective shell-hunch position to find the mammoth upside-down and then hopped into the air and landed on his feet standing before proclaiming out into the crowd once again "Ya see?! This is exactly what I was talking about! Giant balls of furry lava, the size of mammoths, raining from the sky!"

The crowd simply laughed at him as they started to disperse with bored expressions, one of them even called out "Go suck air through a reed!"

Manny quickly lowered them down and stood up on his own feet before yelling out with a panicked tone "You've gotta listen to him! He's right about the flood!"

"I am..?" Taura heard Tony mumble quietly before he quickly yelled out confidently "I mean, yes! I am!"

"Wait a minute!" One deer called out skeptically "You're the one who said there wasn't going to be a flood, why should we listen to you?!"

Manny yelled at them all exasperatedly "Because we saw what's up there! The dam's gonna break, the entire valley's gonna flood!"

The others simply shook their heads or laughed them off mockingly at the mammoth, until a certain accented voice spoke up.

"Flood's real alright..."

Everyone looked up to where the voice came from, a lone tree, to find a scary-looking vulture sitting on one of the boulders. He had the usual bald features with a hooked beak and a flat head. He smirked at the animals below him creepily before gesturing to the area around them.

"Look around, you're in a bowl!"

They all then looked around them to find that what the vulture said was true: encircling the entire melting area were big colossal walls of ice like a giant bowl. The animals then started to look at each other fearfully at the realization.

"Bowl's gonna fill up...ain't no way out." The vulture stated simply, making the animals yell out in fear with statements like 'what are we gonna do?' and 'how are we gonna survive?' before the bird interrupted again "Unless! You can make it to the end of the valley...there's a boat. It can save you."

The audience then looked at each other skeptically while one called out 'I don't see anything!'.

"But...y'all better hurry..." the vulture warned them scarily with narrowed eyes "Ground's meltin', wall's tumblin', rocks crumblin' ! Survive that, and you'll be racing the water! 'Cuz in three days time, it's gonna hit the geyser fields...BOOM!"

The last word the vulture yelled out exaggeratedly, making some of the audience members jump and yell in fear. One of them even fainted! _"Oh please!"_ Taura scoffed mentally as she shook her fur dry...again! _"Pretty sure this bird-brain is exaggerating 98% of this...I hope..."_

"There is some good news though..." The bald-headed bird added in, before creepily stating with a scary smirk "The more of you die...the better I eat!" which caused the fainting audience member to faint again. He then stated with a defensive tone "I didn't say it was good news for you!" before finally flying off. Of course, we can always count on Sid to add in a very poor attempt at comedy...

"Oooh! He must've been a real pleasure to have in class!"

* * *

**PLZ VOTE ON POLL!**


	14. Trumpet Farts and Possum Twins

**Hey guys! So here's another update where ELLIE AND THE POSSUMS COME IN! So, decided that I'm gonna do it through Ice Age 4, but gonna put it as another story. So for ppl who wouldn't like to see Taura in Ice Age 4, then it won't be in this story and will only go up to Ice Age 3, so don't worry.**

**BTW, IMPORTANT NOTICE!**

**Since u guys were awesome enough to get me up to 2,500 views and over 50 FRIGGIN REVIEWS! *WHOOWHOO!* I am gonna give ya a little treat. I'm gonna be doing another one-shot chappie, only this time, YOU guys can provide an OC! And as for the why and when...well, it's a surprise! XD**

**So here's what ya gotta do: Write down the description of ur OC's in ur reviews, but it HAS to be in this form:**

_Name:_

_Species:_

_Gender:_

_Personality:_

_Description of Looks:_

_Sibling(s):_

_Mate (if any):_

**Plz be as descriptive as possible if you can and there will be THREE lucky winners! XD But, I might make a few altercations in the OC's, but don't worry, will PM the author about it.**

**Anywhooties, thanks for ur awesome reviews peeps! I hope ya keep 'em comin! And here's the replies:**

**Shiego627: Haha, no don't worry, not a horrible joke and sorry if the last chapter disappointed you, hope this one is better!**

**Villains' Bad Girl: No, she can also swim in deep water, but I don't know, she might freak out! But I'm worried that it might make her seem a little 'damsel in distress'-ish.**

**TimberPaw: Aw shucks! Now ur gonna make me blush! X3 He probably didn't have enough time to help her since he was too busy being afraid of the water.**

**_Italics means telepathic communication_**

**Warning: OC pairing, Don't like, DON'T READ!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own the Ice Age franchise or any of the characters in it; that all belongs to Blue Sky**

* * *

It seemed like the news spread fast, because no sooner did the vulture leave after five minutes did every single creature start hustling and bustling their way towards the paths leading away from the water park. Mother birds were running away with their nests around them with their babies inside, hedgehogs were removing their last family members from their old tunnels and throughout all that; heck, even the DUNG BEETLES were rolling away their...'lunch' with them. And throughout all that, it was a wonder how Taura was still able to keep up with Diego through the crowd!

It took awhile, but the three of them (including Sid...who Taura was giving the silent treatment...ironically...) finally managed to find the large mammoth ushering the animals through the paths. It would have taken a shorter amount of time if a certain SLOTH didn't decide to take a snack break near one of the berry bushes then they would've-

"Hey, watch it!"

Taura was roughly shoved to the floor by some turtle family who bustled their way through and didn't bother looking back to the female saber. Taura glared at the pompous excuse of a reptile and was about to get up to tear the turtles' shells off their backs until a sudden shadow was cast over her.

"You okay?" Diego asked Taura, his face only a few inches from hers. He didn't see the turtles shoving her, but only walked up to find her on the floor glaring at the reptiles, so he assumed that's what happened. Taura was a bit shocked by how close his face was but quickly stood up and shuffled away from him while trying to dust off her fur and ignore the skipping beats of her heart.

"Yeah yeah, just fine," Taura awkwardly coughed and quickly walked up towards where Sid was shuffling to, hoping that Diego couldn't see her blush. Diego looked at her retreating back with a raised eyebrow before shaking his head and following after her.

"Manny, Manny!" Sid called out with a muffled voice, his mouth full of berries and his face covered with the blue juice. "I just heard that you were going extinct!"

Diego walked up next to Sid and scoffed at him "Hey, if you ever master hygiene, try working on sensitivity."

Manny narrowed his eyes at Sid angrily before snapping at him "I'm not going extinct!"

"Kids look: the last mammoth!" A walking anteater called out to his kids while they all stared at the mammoth, the little ones echoing together a big 'wow'. Manny stared at them incredulously while Taura growled at the anteater annoyingly, her glaring eyes clearly giving him a warning sign that said 'keep moving bub!'. The father nervously chuckled before ushering his kids away quickly "Uh-heheheh, yep! You'll probably never see one of those again!"

Sid looked up at Manny innocently before quietly squeaking "See?" only making Manny's eyes narrow even further.

* * *

Soon, the four were already a big distance away from the water park, the eviscerator now just a bad memory on the horizon. The landscape around them now changed from the ice and dirt hills into lovely green meadows and pouncing gazelles. Sid would occasionally look back at the crumbling and rumbling structure nervously, before quickly hurrying back towards the other three up front.

Taura was calmly walking up front next to Diego until she heard the familiar shuffling footsteps of their favorite sloth walk up next to her, but she didn't turn her head.

"Hey Taura, ya got any travelling song suggestions?" Sid asked her with a grin, trying to lift the mood from the doomsday atmosphere. Taura simply huffed angrily and turned her head away from the sloth, glaring at the grass beneath her.

Sid's face flashed with hurt for a minute before he started to pout, "C'mon Taura! Can't ya at least give me a paw sign or anything?"

Taura simply growled with an annoyed expression before marching behind Manny and walking on the other side of the mammoth. Now Sid couldn't see her at all no matter how far he leaned his neck back. Diego watched the two with amused eyes and tried to not smile as he walked next to the smelly sloth. Manny looked at the slouching sloth and his sad, clueless eyes before sighing exasperatedly.

"She's still mad at you y'know," Manny sighed to Sid, who suddenly looked up at him with shocked eyes. Mad? Why was she mad at him? Did he accidentally fart on her this morning again?...Nope, couldn't remember that happening.

"Why's she mad at me?" Sid asked the two guys with a clueless expression as he scratched his neck nervously. Diego simply rolled his eyes at him before he replying.

"D'you realize how worried she was when she found you climbing the eviscerator?" Diego clarified to Sid, who's eyes then widened in realization at why Taura was giving him the silent treatment. Taura snorted at what Diego said as she continued to march with angry steps next to Manny. Damn right she was worried! She had been looking for hours for that stupid sloth in that water park and when she did find him, what did he do?! Simply shoved her away was exactly what he did! Taura felt her teeth grit at the sloth, but made sure to keep her lips closed as to not scare off any animals with her bared, sharp teeth. She then heard Sid shuffle next to her again, making her turn her head away from him again, determined to continue her 'cold-shoulder' act.

"Aw Taura, I'm sorry I made you worry!" Sid sheepishly apologized as he looked down to the ground and nervously kicked a rock with his largely-clawed foot. When Manny and Diego found out about his crazy stunt, they would've simply whacked him upside the head and forced him down if they didn't find out about the flood. But Taura actually cared enough to look for him and out of the three, she must've been the most worried. He didn't actually think of it that way before until this moment and to be honest, it made his big berry-full stomach gurgle with guilt. "It was just a part of my plan for you guys to respect me remember? A-and I promise I won't do anything stupid like that again!'

Sid's sad voice was starting to melt Taura's heart, but she quickly shook her head and steeled her eyes with determination to not crumble, continuing to glare at the faraway hills in the distance.

"And...and I'll promise to give ya those nice chili peppers that ya like with your meat every morning! C'mon, please don't be mad at me!" Sid whined, placing his paws in a begging position while trying to pull off a puppy-dog pout-y face which Taura tried not to snicker at when she caught a glance of.

_"Hmmm...that IS a tempting offer..."_ Taura thought as she placed her paw on her chin while faking a pondering expression. But then again, she definitely knew that Sid would be too lazy to bother doing that EVERY morning and the guy was able to sleep all the way 'till the afternoon!

"Ugh, just forgive the guy already or we'll have to listen to his whiny voice all day!" Diego groaned as he rolled his eyes at Sid's pathetic behavior. He honestly didn't know why Taura tolerated that sloth, let alone consider him her best friend! He one day asked her that exact question to which she simply rolled her eyes at and said _"He's really not that bad, just has a bad sense of hygiene. Who knows? One day you'll actually consider him your best friend as well!" _Yeah, su~ure. (note his obvious sarcasm) That would be about as likely as him and Sid getting stuck on a romantic cruise and kissing! (**AN**: Two virtual cookies to the dude who gets this joke! XD)

Sid grinned nervously with hopeful eyes at Taura, who hummed with a considering face before grinning brightly at Sid and shook his paw eagerly. Sid let out a 'whoo-hoo!' of happiness before shuffling back to his previous position in the back. He was about to start singing his 'extinction songs' but Diego had one last message for him:

"Oh, and Taura says that if you ever try to do something like that again, she'll rip you apart cell by cell."

* * *

After two annoying very obvious 'mammoths-going-extinct' songs, the water park by now was completely out of the horizon and the landscape became more forest-like. Ice sculptures and dirt hills were replaced with pine trees and rocks, the weather now getting warmer and more humid. Manny was walking ahead in silence until he stopped by a giant boulder with icicles hanging down from its edges and he stared nostalgically at the multiple reflections created from the melting ice structures.

"What if you're right?" Manny asked them with a small voice, "What if I am the last mammoth?"

Sid, being the same optimistic person he was, simply smiled widely and gestured towards him and the two sabers with wide arms. "But Manny, look at that bright side: you have use!" Sid pointed out.

"Not your most persuasive argument Sid." Diego drawled at the clueless sloth and continued forward. Taura looked up the miserable face of the mammoth and patted his leg sympathetically, her paw lingering on his fur for a moment longer before she let go. Taura had no idea what it felt like to be the last of your species, but she knew that he must've felt terrible. And right now, the least she could provide was comfort from what he didn't have in a long time: family.

Suddenly, a loud trumpeting sound echoed around the valley. All four of them jerked in surprise and Manny's eyes widened as he perked his ears to make sure he hear correctly. Again the sound came, only much louder. Taura felt her muscles stiffen in shock, _"No way...could it be..."_

"Mammoths?!" Diego voiced Taura's thoughts with an incredulous look,

"I knew I couldn't be the last one!" Manny yelled with a happy smile, suddenly jerking towards the forest where they all heard the sound, making Sid crash into his tusk and cling onto it. "I felt it in my gut!"

Like a bullet, Manny charged into the forest and even crashing down trees that were in his way. Diego and Taura quickly came out of their stupor and followed after the speeding pachyderm. Sid somehow managed to get thrown onto Manny's shoulders , who didn't slow down his pace and jerked into a different direction when the sound came again. The two following sabers quickly slid to the right and ducked and jumped over floral obstacles until they were now head to head with Manny. Soon after Sid started to give off some sort of ridiculous commentary while the two sabers tried to keep up with Manny, who then went even faster towards the trumpeting noise until they all finally skidded to a stop. Sid screamed out a surprised yell as he fell off of Manny and tumbled around until he slid into a stop in front of a log.

**BLRRROOOOORPPPHHH!**

_"Oh dear lord...he got farted in the face with his mouth open..."_ Taura thought with a disgusted expression at the scene revealed to them. Turns out, the large trumpeting noises came from some dude doing his business on a log that accentuated the sound.

"Sorry," The weird creature apologized as he clung his stomach and whined "My stomach hates me!"

Sid stood up and walked away with a hissy fit as he pinched his nose with his fingers. Diego and Taura shook their heads at the smell as they exclaimed in disgust, while Manny simply stood there with despairing eyes and a miserable frown and started to walk away.

"Ew, well don't THAT put the 'stink' in extinction " Sid said with a muffled voice as he continued to complain and wipe away the smell until they all noticed Manny walking a good distance away from them. "Manny..?" Sid called out faintly.

"I uh...need to be alone for a while," Manny muttered as he looked towards them with downcast eyes "You go on ahead...I'll catch up..." and on that sad note, he walked away into the distance.

"One truly is the loneliest number..." Sid mumbled with pitying eyes, Taura nodding her head along with him before they all walked towards where the other animals were heading towards the boat...

"Ow!"

"Ow-Hey!"

Taura found the other two guys suddenly hit on the head with small pebbles that were shot at them like bullets. They looked up to find two cackling possums dangling from a tree branch with their tails, each holding wooden rods in their paws. The two marsupials had a brown-ish black and white striped coat with large pink noses; they both looked very similar except one of them had a stripe of brown across his forehead to his nose while the other had a completely bare face.

"Ooh! These work great!" The bare-faced one cackled before the two shot another pair of pebbles at Diego's forehead, who then growled threateningly at the two. Taura felt herself start to smile at their antics, those two had some guts to actually dare play pranks on Diego!

"Cool!" The other commented with a mischievous grin to his brother (or who Taura assumed was his brother) until they heard a large roar from below and let out a panicked yell when Diego climbed up the tree and took a swipe at the two with his claws. The possums managed to duck out of the way and fall from the tree only to start running while giggling mockingly towards a small area covered with tunnel holes.

"Miss me, miss me now ya gotta kiss me!" One of them impishly taunted as he flipped and landed with his brother into the holes.

"I'll get 'em!" Sid yelled out as he dove after the possums, but got his head stuck inside one of the holes. Diego was now seething in fury and his gritting fangs were bared; just as he was about to march forward and give those two a piece of his mind...or rather a piece of THEIR minds (specifically teared up pieces of their brains maybe), he heard loud giggles and chortles behind him. He looked back to find Taura with a paw over her mouth as she tried to stifle her very unladylike snorts and her eyes squinting with mirth. She just couldn't help it! Watching those two toy with Sid and Diego was just too funny! Diego raised an eyebrow annoyingly at her before nodding his head to the currently-being-tortured Sid.

"You're not going to join us?" Diego asked her sarcastically, to which she just shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly.

_"Well, they didn't throw or spit anything at me so I think I'm gonna sit this one out."_ Taura said in between her giggles, but her statement made her wonder: Why didn't they throw a stone at her? She was just an easy victim as the other two! But as she let her thoughts wonder while she walked to the top of the clearing, the sight before her made her collapse with mirthful laughter:

Diego's limbs were stretched out because he needed to place his paws on the widely spread holes while Sid was tangled beneath him in the same position, looking like the two were playing some sort of messed up game of twister. And the possums...dear god, they weren't even trying! They were hopping and flipping around to this hole and that while impishly mocking and taunting the two tangled victims. If Taura knew it would be THIS easy to prank Diego, without getting mauled that is, then she would've done this a lo~ong time ago!

"Over here!" One of them called out in one of the holes, making both Sid and Diego reach out on either side; both were now officially stuck. The two possums popped out of holes that were next to each other.

"Surrender?" One of them smirked evilly, to which the two poor victims stubbornly growled "Never!"

"Cool!" The two possums said to each other, before they narrowed their eyes in focus and popped back into their holes. _"Oooh! What's gonna happen next?!"_ Taura thought with an excited grin as she sat watching the show, the only thing that could've made this even more perfect for her would be some popcorn! From then on, everything moved into slow-motion as the pair suddenly pounced back up into the air and took very large breaths before letting out a barrage of bullets onto Diego and Sid's heads. Finally, the possums popped back into their holes and Diego and Sid finally collapsed into an awkward jumble of fur and limbs.

Taura finally decided that the two probably had enough and happily pranced down to them with an amused grin. "So, did ya have fun with the twins?" Taura snorted as her grin got wider as Diego's glare grew dangerously thinner at her.

Diego growled grumpily "If anyone asks, there were fifty of them and uh...they were rattlesnakes."

As if on cue, the twins popped out of some hole on a hill in front of them while cackling away in victory. One of them was waving tauntingly at the three while the other shook his tail mockingly and jeered "Here kitty kitty!" at Diego.

As Diego stood up he roared at the two threateningly "Big mistake you miscreants!" to which Taura raised an eyebrow at. Really? She wasn't exactly a teenager, but she knew that that was an insult only oldies used.

"Miscreants?" One of them repeated to his brother with a confused look before they both burst out into mocking laughter again.

"Uh Diego, they're possums." Sid deadpanned while Taura slapped her forehead at Sid's behavior. _"No shit Sherlock!"_ She drawled mentally before looking up to find the two said possums preforming the old chicken taunt performance. What with Diego not taking shit from anybody, he gave out an enraged roar at the two before charging after them, Taura following after him.

"Retreat!" One of them squawked as he leaped into his brother's arms and both ran away.


	15. Mud Fights and Ice Ramps

**Hey guys! So here's the extra chapter, AND WHAT DA FLIP?! At least 7 reviews for the last chapter?! U GUYS ARE JUST DA BOMB! So, I will reply to ur reviews, but here are the three winners to the one-shot chappie:**

***cue da drumroll***

**GOLDENSABER!**

**TIMBERPAW**

**aannd**

**SHIEGO627**

**Thanks to all the other people who bothered to try to put in their OCs, but just as a side-note, I might also use SarahBara's OC as a side character in the one-shot. So anywho, here r the replies to ur reviews:**

**PureSaberHeart: Aw, thank you so much! Yes, I'll try to continue this all the way up to Ice Age 4, but this story will only go up to Ice Age 3, Ice Age 4 volume will be in another story. I'll try to cherish my first hater comment...somehow...although I doubt it...**

**GoldenSaber: Yup, they're my second favorite characters! First is Buck though! X3**

**SarahBara: Yup, u get two virtual cookies for spotting it! *presents the holy virtual cookies* Thnx for the reviews!**

**Shiego627: Lol, is it THAT obvious? Thnx for updating an OC and hope to see u soon again!**

**TimberPaw: Yeh, he sometimes does, but we wouldn't luv him any other way! XD Thnx for uploading an OC, luv ur awesome reviews and hope to see ya soon again!**

**Some1 u dont no: I could go on another big rant about how f***ing annoying you are, but I'll keep it short and simple so the message can hopefully go through to you better, okay? First, please, go burn yourself, because you'd be doing everyone a huge favor. I won't pipe the f**k down no matter how many times you tell me to, because it's my story and I can do whatever the heck I want with it. F**k off and read something that you do like since Diego and Shira is f**king perfection, or grow a f**king pair and write your own story if you think mine is so crap.**

**_Italics means telepathic communication_**

**Warning: OC pairing, Don't like, DON'T READ!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own the Ice Age franchise or any of the characters in it; that all belongs to Blue Sky**

* * *

"Help! Help!"

If Taura had her way, she would have just went back with Diego and Sid to the path leading to the boat and try to catch up with the migrating animals and hopefully Manny would come back and find them. Unfortunately, Diego and Sid ran off chasing those two possums who still thought it would be a genius idea to keep mocking Diego and Sid while they ran away from them. Taura would've just left them, but two things worried her: One, Diego and Sid might go on running for a long time that they would end up getting lost and it would probably take them 'til nightfall to find the migration; and Two, if Diego did somehow catch them and ended up eating one of them, Taura was worried that those marsupials might have some sort of disease on them and the last thing she needed was an even GRUMPIER Diego with an upset stomach. Not like she would even dream of nursing him of course! Hehe, as if!

As she followed after the two fuming males, the possums somehow led them straight back to Manny and hid behind another...female...mammoth! Her fur coat was mainly peachy and had a darker shade of reddish-pink on her legs and neck. She also had a poof-y tuft of fur on her head with the same reddish-pink tone and had green eyes with elongated eyelashes; her tusks were more curved and smooth than Manny's.

"Well shave me down and call me a mole rat!" Sid yelled with glee and pointed at Ellie "Ya found another mammoth!"

Said female mammoth gasped in surprise and looked around "Where?! Wait a minute, I thought mammoths were extinct?" She then looked at the weird group of animals in front of her with confusion, who all looked at her with weird looks. Taura looked at Diego with a disturbed look and whispered mentally _"Uh...she's kidding right?"_

"What are you looking at me for?" The She-moth asked them with the same confused expression.

"Uh, I don't know...maybe because you're a mammoth?" Manny suggested with a raised eyebrow.

The She-moth's eyes widened in surprise and scoffed with an easygoing grin "Me?! Don't be ridiculous, I'm not a mammoth, I'm a possum!"

"Right, good one. I'm a newt!" Manny joked slowly before continuing and pointing at each of his friends "This is my friend the badger and his wife," Diego smiled friendly to the female mammoth but then his eyes widened in shock and annoyance at what Manny said and he frowned at him angrily but his mammoth friend simply continued with an amused smile. "And my other friend the platypus!"

Sid smiled for a minute before he started pouting and pointed immaturely at Diego "Why do I gotta be the platypus? Make HIM the platypus!"

Taura felt her chest constrict at what Manny said before she glanced nervously at Diego and uncomfortably shuffled an inch away from him, since he was too busy frowning at Manny. _"Dear lord, I hope they don't actually think we're..." _Taura mumbled nervously in her head, but let that sentence linger and continued listening to the conversation.

The two possums jumped onto the she-moth's trunk and glared at Manny while one of them huffed "This guy giving you trouble sis?"

"'SIS'?!" The four exclaimed in surprise, looking at the trio in front of them incredulously. The she-moth simply smiled friendly, as if the statement that the possum said was an ordinary thing.

"That's right! These are my brothers!" Ellie chirped happily before pointing at each of themselves "Possum, possum, possum!"

Taura felt her jaw-slacken in surprise while the other three boys stared in shock, Manny then voiced Taura's exact thoughts:

"I don't think her tree goes ALL the way to the top branch..." He muttered to them nervously as he glanced at the she-moth who continued to smile happily while her brothers lounged care-freely on her tusks.

Sid whispered to Manny while looking at the mammoth with a disturbed face "Manny, brink of extinction is a bad time to be picky!" A sudden grin appeared across his lips as an idea lit inside his head. Sid then nudged Manny eagerly and whispered excitedly "Hey! She should come with us!"

"Are you insane?!" Manny whispered heatedly as he glared at Sid "No way!"

Sid shrugged with a cheeky grin and commented nonchalantly "Okay..." Taura glanced nervously at Sid because she definitely knew that when Sid took on that tone, nothing good could come from it for the victim, or in this case Manny. Sid waddled forward confidently before declaring "Manny would like me to ask you if you would like to escape the flood with us!"

From the back Manny stuttered with shock at what the sloth did as he glanced incredulously from the sloth and back to Diego and Taura, who glanced at him with a nervous smile and shrugged. The two possums hopped off of Ellie's tusks with angry faces and marched towards Diego while one of them growled "I'd rather be roadkill!"

Diego glared back with an equally heated glare and growled "THAT can be arranged!" Both of them had their faces merely inches away from each other and were growling with fury, Taura then decided that she needed to step in before things got ugly.

_"Back away Diego, pretty sure that those two would taste horrible anyways!"_ Taura tried to calm him by placing her paw in front of his chest and gently pushed him back. The two possums had their 'sister's' trunk curled around them both as she gave Diego a sheepish smile.

"Ha, funny! Lemme have a little word with my brothers..." Ellie chuckled nervously as she dragged the growling duo away from the saber, not leaving their eyes away from Diego until they fully turned their backs away. While the three were whispering away, Manny then whacked Sid upside the head very hard and glared at him with an annoyed frown.

"Why did you invite them?!" He whispered heatedly with angry eyes as he placed his face threateningly close to Sid's.

Sid rolled his eyes exasperatedly "Be-CAUSE! You might be the only two mammoths left on earth!" He said as if it was the most obvious fact on earth, while shaking Manny's tusks as if it would get the message across better.

"He has a point..." Diego reluctantly added in, while looking up at Manny with encouraging eyes and Taura nodding eagerly at Manny and patting his leg with a reassuring smile. The three only wanted what was best for Manfred, and while Taura was SURE she would miss his sometimes grumpy attitude (note her sarcasm), who knows? This female might be just what's best for him!

Manny glared at them all stubbornly before scoffing incredulously "I'm sorry, when did I join this dating service?!"

Before the four could argue even further, the three 'possums' came back and Ellie friendly replied "My brothers and I would be delighted to come with you!" to which Manny groaned in defeat and pain.

A heated glare that was quickly becoming familiar from the two possums was sent again to Diego as one of them chided "IF! You treat us nicely!" In reply, Diego simply growled at the two disdainfully and narrowed his eyes even further at the annoying duo. "See that?!" The same possums exclaimed while pointing at Diego accusingly "Th-th-that is the total opposite of nice!"

"Maybe we'll have ourselves a little SNACK before we hit the road." Diego snarled aggressively while walking away, while Taura gave him a scolding look to which he ignored.

"You want a piece of us? Let's go!" The other said intimidatingly and then suddenly, everything went back into chaos...

Taura sighed annoyingly and rushed to help Diego get the annoying critter off his head: one of the possums hopped on his brother and leaped on Diego's head, painfully pulling at Diego's eyelids as some sort of rein. The other was excessively whipping at Sid with his tail when Sid tried to help Diego and Taura finally managed to rip the other possum off of Diego's head, only to then watch as Diego tried to eat the brother whole while he held his mouth open with his arms.

"You know what's the best part?" The possum smirked mischievously to his brother while holding Diego's mouth wide, "We're carrying diseases!"

A sudden loud rumbling paused everybody in their tracks, even the two brothers in their antics. They all glanced up at the sky and ground nervously as the land around them seemed to quake dangerously, threatening to rip apart or crack at any moment. Taura looked at Diego with a deadpanned expression and drawling "I think now would be a good time to spit him out Diego..." before he then did as she said and spat the possum out with a disgusted moan.

"Okay!" Manny called out with an annoyed tone as he glanced at Sid heatedly before ranting to the others "Thanks to Sid! We're now traveling together and like it or not!" he said as he glared at the possums, one of them sheepishly rubbing the ground with his feet while the other rolled his eyes in boredom, before continuing as his voice got louder and louder "We're gonna be one big happy family! I'll be the daddy, Ellie will be the mommy and Diego and Taura will be the uncle and aunt who eats the kids who get on my nerves!" As if confirming what he said, Diego growled and leaned threateningly towards the two with a glare before Manny continued with an angry shout as he walked off, "OW LET'S MOVE IT BEFORE THE GROUND FALLS OUT FROM UNDER OUR FEET!"

The other three followed after Manny and the two possum brothers hopped back on their sister's tusks, only they then heard Ellie whisper to her brothers with a confused tone "I thought fat guys were supposed to be jolly...?"

"I'm not fat!" Manny snapped at her angrily while looking at her over his shoulder "It's this fur that makes me look big...it's poof-y!"

"Oh-hoho, okay!" She chuckled loudly in understanding, before whispering conspiratorially to her brothers "He's fat."

* * *

After a while, the now larger group of mammals managed to catch up with the large herd heading towards the boat. They were now surrounded by cliff-like structures of grey rock and the area around them lacked the grassy tundra back at the water park and now mainly consisted of dirt roads and bushes. Fast Tony was as usual hopping and bouncing about here and there, trying to sell his products to random walkers. Taura thought it would've been an easy walk: just an extra three members to their weird group while they took a simple walk to the boat. Of course, per usual, Taura thought wrong.

It seemed that the possums, who Taura later found out were Crash and Eddie, and Ellie were rather...paranoid, about walking around in broad daylight and they always tried to find different camouflage disguises like bushes, trees and even trying to hide under rocks (which was a rather difficult task for Ellie).

The three heard a strong whistle behind them and looked back to find Ellie with big frightened eyes as she crawled on the floor hurriedly while holding a bush on her trunk and tail. She gave one quick panicked glance across the area and quickly hid behind a thin tree that barely hid any of her!

Manny closed his eyes and groaned annoyingly "Oh, we'll never make it at this pace" He then called out to Ellie while rolling his eyes and walking away "Ellie! It's okay, you can lose the camouflage, you're safe!"

They all heard a faint "okay!" before they then all continued walking with the migration. Later on, Ellie was walking behind them with her brothers in play and chasing each other. Looking back at those two, Taura was reminded of the times Kraz and her would play like that, just chasing each other and trying to grab each others tails. Taura quickly shook her head from those thoughts and continued walking with a stoic expression. Taura couldn't continue lingering her thoughts on the past, she had a family now! Not exactly the perfect family image that one would imagine, but a loving one nonetheless! They would all risk their lives for each other and there is nothing more she could ask than that!...As she thought that however, her thoughts then steered towards a certain gold-pelted saber next to her while her eyes followed Suddenly, one of them called out with a fearful yelp:

"HAWK!"

Taura looked up to the sky with a confused frown and sure enough, there was the silhouette of a hawk circling the sky. The possums started to run around in circles with panicked shouts before they suddenly hopped into the air and landed back on the ground with their backs, their arms poised in some position while their tongues rolled out of their mouths. _"Are they playing dead...?"_ Taura thought with a confused tilt of her head, it sure looked like a weird death-act.

When Taura looked at Ellie however, she felt herself letting out a giggle at the ridiculous position Ellie was in too. "Okay, I take it back. THAT sure looks like a weird death position!" Taura thought amusingly. Ellie was also on her back with her tongue sticking out of her mouth, her eyes clenched shut and her legs were frozen in mid-air. Manny walked over to her with a raised eyebrow and gave her a weird look.

"What are you doing?" He asked her slowly,

"Playing dead!" Ellie whispered with a muffled voice, her eyes still shut. Manny stood there for a moment with an incredulous look before deflating exasperatedly and rolling his eyes. Sid looked at her with a surprised grin and walked over to Manny.

"Manny, why don't you do that?" Sid asked him with a clueless smile

"Because, I'm a mammoth!" Manny snapped at him angrily, making Sid's smile widen with a mysterious twinkle in his eyes.

"But you'd do it for treats right?" Sid said suggestively, only making Manny's brow furrow even further with annoyance. Ellie blinked one eye open and stared at Manny hopefully.

"Is he gone?" Ellie asked him in a quiet voice.

Manny looked up to the sky and saw the hawk glide around for a few seconds before it finally left over the cliffs. Manny looked down at her again and sighed "You're safe, get up."

As soon as Manny said that, the three let out a huge sigh of relief and got up on their feet. Well, the possums were able to do that, but Ellie only managed to crawl to her knees and needed a little help from her brothers who ran to her and pushed her legs up.

"Phew!" She breathed out while looking at Manny with gratitude "If you weren't here, that hawk would've swooped down and snatched me up for dinner! That's how uncle Wilton went!"

When Ellie said that, Taura felt her eyes look over her large form. She didn't think that Ellie was fat, but she felt herself snort at the idea of a hawk trying to 'swoop down' and lift Ellie back up. Sid circled a finger next to his head and whistled in a gesture to suggest 'nut job!' before he noticed Manny glaring at him and nervously waved at Manny with a sheepish smile.

* * *

Manny and Ellie walked up ahead while Diego, Sid, Taura and the possums stayed behind. Crash and Eddie went back to their wrestling routine: chasing each other while trying to grab each others' tails or ears. It was sort of adorable to watch...if the two didn't threaten to flick boogers at each other. Soon the tussle escalated into a small mud-ball fight! The twins were running and dodging here and there while flinging small piles of mud at each other that they would scoop from the ground. Sometimes, Crash and Eddie would even use the other three mammals as a shield of protection from a lone mud-ball. But after an incident where one of them nearly had their tale chewed off by an angry Diego, they learnt their lesson and decided to just stick to using Sid.

"INCOMING!"

Taura jolted in surprise and looked around in panic, but by the time she did that, it was already too late.

**SPLAT!**

A small pile of mud was flung to the scarred side of her face and hit dead on with a large splatting sound. Taura stood there for a moment in shock, the mud dripping down her already brown face and then slowly turned around with a very pissed face and saw both Crash and Eddie stare at her in shock like a pair of kids who got caught with their hands in the cookie jar. After a small tense moment, they both pointed at each other with their muddy hands and yelled out "He did it!" at the same time.

But instead of running at them while screaming at the top of her lungs like they expected her to, Taura simply started to smirk and headed towards a mud patch at one of the corners of the cliff side. Diego and Sid looked at her retreating figure with amused expressions at each other because they both knew what was going to happen, while Crash and Eddie both sighed in relief and started to walk away with smug faces.

Normally, they would've laughed at the mud-faced tigress, but Ellie always scolded them that they were able to play around, but they were not allowed to play pranks on a girl. Which was why in the beginning they didn't spit any rocks at Taura and as long as Taura didn't tell Ellie about their accidental mud-fling at her, then they were in the clear. Unfortunately, they didn't expect Taura to retaliate...

**SPLA-PLAT!**

Both brothers felt something wet and hard fling into their turned backs and the mere force caused them to fall to the floor...hard. Crash and Eddie picked themselves off the floor with painful groans and looked at each other to find a very large patch of icky, wet mud covering the entire back area of their bodies. When the sound of loud giggling reached their ears, they both turned to find Taura laughing her head off at the ridiculous amount of mud on the back of themselves. Crash and Eddie looked at each other again for a moment and then both started to grin deviously.

"Oh it's on sister!" Crash declared while grabbing a pile of icky mud from the floor and flinging at Taura, only this time she caught it with her paw and started to run around and outright laughing while flinging mud at the two possums. Soon, it was an all-out mud war...

* * *

Somehow, the rocky landscape lead to another lake, only this time it was covered with thousands of jagged ice layers floating right next to each other creating a wonky ice surface for the weird animal group to walk on. Diego thought that Taura would've stopped playing with the possums back at the cliffs, but it seemed like the twins were now officially her new pair of best friends. _"Why is it that she always makes friends with the weird and annoying ones...?"_ Diego groaned mentally as he shook his head at her current antics, who would've thought that she was the playful type?

Taura was now running and skating around with the possums, all three of them laughing their heads off in glee as they sometimes flew through ice ramps naturally made in a few of the ice layers. Diego however was slowly walking and carefully placing his paws away from possible wet puddles, his slow pace making him the last in the line. Manny looked back to find Diego a few feet away from them and still walking in his slow pace, making him sigh in annoyance.

"Diego, there are whole continents moving faster than you, let's go!" Manny yelled at the saber, "We've gotta catch up with the others!"

Diego nodded and started to walk faster, but then glanced nervously at the two puddles on either side of him and moved slowly for a minute. As soon as they passed him though, he then continued walking at a faster pace. Taura would've asked him what's wrong...but in her defense, those ice ramps were just too hard to resist!

"Whoohoo!"

The only other three animals who weren't too busy trying to catch up with the others were Taura and the possums, who were too busy trying to outrun and out-flip each other as they ran around laughing and yelping with happiness as they ran and slid around the ice. Taura was giggling like mad as she ran next to a ramp where the possums flipped and landed over with a sprint. She then decided to slow down and try to catch her breath while Diego walked next to her and shook his head at her.

"Hey, knock it off!" Diego snapped at the running possums.

Eddie latched onto his sister's leg as he stopped mid-run and then caught his brother's tail as he whizzed by, who then stretched back and stood next to his brother.

"Oh cry me a river buck-tooth tiger!" Crash rolled his eyes at the boring saber "Try to have some fun!"

Taura nodded in agreement with a shit-eating grin before hopping off the ramp and running after them again. Diego glared at her for a moment before hopping off the ramp also, mentally sighing in defeat _"Traitor.."_ to Taura.

"Can't you see this ice is thin enough without you three wearing it down?!" Diego scolded them as he looked down at the ice anxiously.

Sid waved his paw at the worrying saber with an easygoing smile, "Aw Diego, c'mon! The ice may be thin, but it's strong enough to lift a ten ton mammoth and a nine ton possum!" Sid said nonchalantly as he pointed towards Manny's large form.

Diego simply grunted at Sid and continued forward, still at the same slow pace. Back up front, Manny suddenly heard a suspicious rumble underneath him. He froze for a moment and took a suspicious look to the area around them, only to see nothing. He was about to continue walking, when that sound came again. Manny stopped walking completely this time and stared at the ice around them again, only this time with more panicked eyes. He then jolted in surprise when the two possums and Taura whizzed through his legs.

Taura was giggling like mad as she chased them while the other two boys were cackling mockingly as they skated on their fronts across the ice, yelling out "you'll never catch us!". However, Taura suddenly slid down on her side as well and caught the two by their tails with her mouth. But that didn't stop Crash and Eddie from wrestling each other while dangling from her grinning lips. Suddenly, all hell broke loose...

**CRRAAAAAAAAASSSSSHHHHHHHHH!**


	16. Monsters and Log Rolling

**Hey guys! This chapter's longer than the last one, I hope ya don't mind. Btw, IMPORTANT MESSAGE!**

**I won't be updating for a while on this story, becuz recently fans from my deviantart account have been asking me to update my shira/diego story. Also, don't bother reading it. Cuz it's really old and compared to this one, it sucks really bad. Another important thing: as soon as I come back to update, it won't be on the movie, it'll be for the special one-shot chapter with ur OC's. Other than that, don't bother looking up my deviantart account if it's for the art, cuz there isn't any on my account, only the story.**

**Anywho, hope ya had a happy new year and here are the replies to ur super-licious reviews:**

**ScarletWolfx: Thank you, and haha, for some reason, it's not a far-fetched thing to imagine.**

**TimberPaw: Haha, thank you! I at first originaly would've thought of her reacting that way, but then I thought "Nah, she's too laid-back to be that angry!" X3 So I decided, what the heck? Those two possums could use the extra play mate.**

**Shiego627: Haha, thanks a bunch! Didn't know that it made you laugh, I'm glad it did! Ur welcome and hopee ya like this chapter.**

**Sarahbara: Ur welcome, and if u keep up the good reviews, u might receive virtual tacos! X3**

**Villains' Bad Girl: Well, you'll just have to find out in this chapter! XD Yeah, that's what makes her so unique!**

**GoldenSaber: Who doesn't like Buck? He's just awesome! XD Ur welcome and I doubt she can get Diego to loosen up THAT much, but we'll just have to see in Ice Age 3! XD**

**_Italics means telepathic communication_**

**Warning: OC pairing, Don't like, DON'T READ!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own the Ice Age franchise or any of the characters in it; that all belongs to Blue Sky**

* * *

Some giant green monster erupted from the sea below and crashed back down into the water; its giant weight made the ice layer that they were walking on to crack and separate into smaller chunks of ice. Some time during the sudden attack, Sid flew into the air and landed in the water; Diego got separated from the others and was stuck on a floating chunk of ice barely his size; Ellie was unconscious on another floating piece of ice while her brothers tried to bring her back from her sleep and Manny and Taura were the only ones conscious and standing still with shock.

Suddenly, another creature crashed its head through the ice and hissed at Manny and Taura, both of them finally breaking from their stupor and running as fast as they could on the largest chunk of ice left. This one was purple and looked more crocodile-like in comparison to its more larger friend.

While the two mammals ran, Manny looked back and found the shadow of the crocodile monster chasing after them under the water and fast! When he looked back up front again, Manny's eyes widened in shock when he found him and Taura at a dead end of their ice chunk. Taura shoved his shoulder roughly as they ran and guided him to another smaller ice layer that was floating to their left. They both leaped over the small gap of water between the two floating ice chunks and landed safely, both breathing heavily as they tried to catch their breath. But no matter how many gulps of oxygen they both took, it didn't stop their hearts from beating very wildly in their chests as they looked around anxiously for the sign of the purple crocodile monster.

The purple monster suddenly leapt out of the water and tried to take a bite at Manny as it landed on the ice with them. Manny dodged this way and that as the crocodile continued to leap at him with its crashing jaws. Just as it was about to take another bite at Manny, Taura roared at it threateningly and swiped at the underside of its mouth with her claws, the force of her blow making it hurl back to the edge of the ice chunk. The other side that the crocodile was on got higher and higher as Manny's large weight leaned more on the opposite edge, the tipping berg made Taura cling onto Manny's leg with her claws so she wouldn't fall into the water.

Taura glanced fearfully at how high above the crocodile was on that edge, _"Why did I have to whack him that hard?!"_

The crocodile hissed at them with an evil smirk as it shuffled towards the terrified pair trapped on the edge and finally leaped at them both. Taura was about to jump at the crocodile to force it back again, but then paused when she found the monster's leap paused halfway. It's wide-open jaws were stuck on Manny's tusks...Normally, Taura would've laughed her butt off at how ridiculous the predator looked, but the near-death situation seeped whatever humor was left. Taura noticed Manny glancing back at Ellie, who looked at them both with worried eyes as she stood at the shore safely.

Manny furrowed his brows as he stepped away from the ledge and grunted out loudly as he threw the giant purple monster back into the water. Manny walked away towards the safe shore, but not before glaring threateningly at the two creatures that still had their heads above the surface glaring back them, but then quickly sank back into the water.

Manny felt a tugging at his leg and looked down to find Taura looking up at him with worried eyes as she gestured to his tusks and the rest of his body, the question she was asking eventually made clear.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He huffed out as he smiled gratefully for her concern as he walked away to the safety of the shore, Taura right next to him.

"What in the name of the animal kingdom was THAT?!" Sid yelped as he glanced fearfully at the giant bite mark on the edge of the ice shore, Taura's eyes also widened at the huge chunk of ice missing there. _"No way...their jaws are THAT powerful?!"_ She gasped in her head as she stared in awe and fear for a moment at the sheer size of the bite mark.

"I don't know, but from now on: Land safe, water not safe!" Diego panted as he hurriedly walked away with Manny towards where the other three mammals were waiting for them. Taura was about to walk away but quickly tugged at Sid's arm when she found him still staring fearfully at the bite mark.

As the four made their way towards Ellie and the possums, the she-moth said to Manfred with a wry smile "That was the bravest thing I've ever seen."

Manny thought that she was praising him and shrugged nonchalantly with a sheepish half-smile "It was nothing really, I-uh"

"Oh it wasn't a compliment," Ellie interrupted him as she continued with a roll of her eyes as she walked away"To a possum, bravery is just dumb!"

"Yeah, we're spineless!" Crash added in as he turned away from them following his sister.

"Lilly-livered!" Eddie proclaimed proudly with a turn of his head as he followed after his brother. Taura raised an eyebrow at the two with an 'are-you-serious' look before she looked side-ways at Manny, who gave the same look to Diego.

"Maybe mammoths are going extinct because they put themselves in danger too often," Ellie pondered out-loud before looking back at Manny with a nonchalant shrug "Maybe you should run away more!"

Manny stared at her in shock for a moment before a tight-ipped smile spread across his face as he called at her sarcastically "Good point, thanks for the advise!"

Ellie apparently didn't catch onto his sarcasm and simply happily called back "Happy to help!" while walking away, the two possums dangling from her tail while waving cheerfully at the four.

"Can you believe her?!" Manny growled out frustratingly before he raised his voice up a ridiculously higher octave as he girlishly waved his trunk around " 'Bravery's just dumb, maybe you should run away more!' " his voice then went back to normal as he glared at the she-moth's retreating back while snapping "She's infuriating, stubborn and narrow-minded!"

Sid looked up at Manny with a cheeky grin and wagged his finger at him before teasing "Oooh, you like her!"

Manny huffed at him irritably before snapping "I do not!" and walking away to the forest.

Sid didn't pay any attention to the fuming mammoth and continued to grin as he yelled at his retreating form "Oh don't worry, you're secret's safe with me!" He then glanced at Diego and added in "Oh, and so are both of yours."

Diego looked back at the sloth with a scowl before asking him "What secrets?"

If possible, Sid's grin widened even further as he shuffled next to him "Y'know, the one where you can't swim?"

"That's ridiculous!" Diego huffed derisively as he carefully stepped on a rock stuck in the middle of a miniature river. Sid smirked smugly at the tiger's actions, since they proved his point exactly. The sloth then shuffled into the water loudly, purposefully making big splashes as he walked ahead of the saber while looking at him smugly.

"Fine, but we're living in a melting world buddy!" Sid shrugged as he 'splashed' by with the same smug smirk "You're gonna have to face your fear sooner or later!"

Diego looked at the waddling sloth with a stoic face before gruffly replying with a sneer as he walked next to the sloth "Well if you're so smart, care to tell me what's the second secret that you happen to know?"

All that he got in reply from Sid was his bouncing eyebrows and an even wider grin for a moment, before he then decided to enlighten the obviously clueless saber.

"Oh I think you know..." Sid teased Diego as he nudged his shoulder, letting his sentence hang in the air. At first, Diego's scowl turned even further with irritation at how cryptic the sloth was acting, but then Sid started to nod towards a certain female saber who was listening with a nervous smile at Manny's rant about how annoying Ellie was. He then understood what Sid was trying to imply.

"Oh give me a break!" Diego snorted with a roll of his eyes, the mere idea of it was enough to make him laugh at how ridiculous it was. Him and Taura? Together? That's the dumbest notion ever! Don't get him wrong, Taura was the nicest and greatest friend he's ever had! Heck, she's the ONLY female friend he's ever had, since most of the females in the old pack were either as tough as nails and were twice his size or prissy little snobs who stayed in half peak taking care of cubs. Taura was neither of those, she was one of a kind! Her mischievous and playful character made her even more likable and he liked how she always presented him with a new challenge when they were bored: like who can catch the biggest dear or who can sprint the fastest to the top of a hill.

But the idea of him...and her...it was just absurd! Sure she was...attractive, by some standards...but she was his best friend! There was no way that the two would ever hook up, it would just end badly for the both of them anyway. _"And she's totally not my type anyway..."_ Diego snorted mentally, as he thought of her weird quirks: the way she was able to eat an entire buffalo carcass, not with the best manners either, and still ask if there was more. Or the way she would snore very loudly for a moment before going back to slumber if she was sleeping very deeply from a hard day's work. And the fact that she was friends with those two annoying vermin made him question her sanity, especially since she actually plays with them and their stupid games!

But while he was listing all those traits, Diego couldn't help the little voice at the back of his head that stated _"But still...all those things are what make up Taura! And you wouldn't have her any other way, would ya?" _Diego started to smile wanly at how true that statement was, and decided to not bother arguing with it. Sure, Taura had her bad traits, but who didn't?

While Diego was thinking away, Sid mistook his smile as one of affection when he caught Diego glancing at Taura as he had his internal pondering, only making the sloth's smile seem even more smug as he waddled away while calling over his shoulder "Alright, stay in denial. But you don't know what you're missing!"

* * *

"Thanks for helping us push the log Taura!"

Once they left the icy lake, the landscape around the herd went back to it's original tundra: snow melting away to reveal lush grass and pine trees had grown back their green needles. While walking in between the two cliffs, the twins asked Taura to help them push a log up a hill. When Taura raised an eyebrow at them suspiciously, they reassured her that they weren't going to roll it at any poor victim and were simply going to go log-rolling. Taura, being the playful and energetic tigress that she was, felt the tips of her mouth turn upward into an excited smile at the prospect of joining in on a new game.

She helped them push a log up to the top of a cliff and then sat down and looked at them with a tilt of her head, her eyebrows still furrowed in confusion. The two possums understood her question and explained that the idea was to roll on the log for as long as you can without falling off until it reaches to a stop.

Taura felt her eyes widen in shock and realization,_ "So no wonder they wanted me to roll this up to the top of a very steep...and...very high...cliff..."_ She thought as she looked down towards the very steep roll with a shudder. Just looking at how high they were made a chill go down her spine and her claws to cling into the earth fearfully.

"So you wanna join us?" Eddie asked her eagerly as the two brothers got ready by placing both their paws on the log.

Taura politely declined their oh-so-very tempting offer with a shake of her head and padded away as fast as she could towards the male trio before the possums could drag her in anyways.

"Okay, you're missing out on a lot of fun!" Crash called out to her, before turning to his brother and asking him if he was ready to roll.

Taura quickly padded over until she was walking right next to Diego, who gave her a confused glance.

"Where have you been?" He asked Taura, but before she could reply, the four heard a loud banging and rolling sound to their left. They looked to the hill beside them to find the two possums being crushed by the log as it rolled with fast speeds down the hill. _"uh...does that answer your question?"_ Taura chuckled as she shook her head at the brothers' antics. The possums' log finally camp to a stop when it crashed onto a dead tree, but then out of the blue, Ellie came crashing over their log AND the tree while still maintaining her balance on top of the log.

"No brakes, gotta roll!" Ellie called over her shoulder gleefully as she continued to roll over the hills "Meet you at the other end!"

The quartet stood there silently for a minute before Manny turned to Sid and awkwardly asked him slowly "So~...you think she's the girl for me?"

Sid nodded eagerly with a grin "Oh yeah, she's tons of fun and you're no fun at all. She completes you!"

Manny grunted at what Sid said with an unreadable expression before he continued forward with his trade-mark grumpy frown. Taura giggled a bit at how Sid put it before she followed after them. She caught sight of the hyper duo dizzily walking out of the log, before Crash caught sight of Manny and waved eagerly at him.

"Hey, hey Manny!" Crash called out to the mammoth as he climbed up the dead tree "Can you pull back the tree and shoot me into the pond?"

"No." Manny grunted without even looking and continued forward.

"Oh come on!" Crash whined with a pout from his position on the tree branch.

Sid waddled forward towards Manny an scolded "And how do you expect to impress Ellie with that attitude?"

Manny glared at the sloth irritably and defended himself "I don't want to impress her!"

Sid simply smirked smugly while placing his paws on his hips and argued "Then why are you trying so hard to convince her that she's a mammoth?"

Manny stopped in his steps and rolled his eyes exasperatedly before yelling "Because that's what she is!" he then continued with a much more calmed voice "I don't care if she thinks she's a possum, you can't be two things!"

"Au contraire my friend!" Sid retorted with the same smirk as he started to count off his fingers "Tell that to the bullfrog, the chicken-hawk or turtledove!"

Diego walked forward and snapped to Manny "He's never gonna give up on you. It'll be easier on all of us if you'll just GO with it."

Taura grinned encouragingly and nodded towards the possums. "I mean, come on! How bad can it be?" Taura scoffed in her head with an easygoing grin. Manny groaned annoyingly for a moment before turning to the playing possums on the branch.

"So uh...what do you want me to do?" Manny asked, with the same unsure look in his eyes.

Crash, with the same eager grin, climbed up to the top of the tree and pointed towards the distant pond with a grin. "Pull back the tree and shoot me into the pond!"

Manny raised an eyebrow skeptically "I don't know..."

Crash shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly and leaned against the tree branch while checking his nails before replying "Well...if you're too lame to do it, we could get Ellie..."

Manny's eyes widened for a minute before he hurriedly replied "No, no, no, I can do it, I can do it!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, Crash dropped his cool facade and wrapped his tail around the tree branch while leaning his body eagerly towards the destination. "Yeah, yeah ,yeah! Come on, come on!" He chanted eagerly with an excited grin.

Manny pulled back the branch with his trunk a good distance close to the ground before asking the possum with a worried voice "Have you done this before?"

"Hah! Only a million times!" Crash scoffed before leaning forwards again and telling Manny to go farther and farther. By now, Manny was pulling as hard as he could and bent the entire tree until the very top of the branch reached the floor. Taura glanced at the branch with a concerned frown, _"This has 'accident' written all over it..."_

"Perfect!" Crash grinned before pointing towards the sky and yelled out "FIRE!"

As soon as Manny let go, the entire tree lurched forward and shot the possum into the sky like a rocket! Taura stared with wide concerned eyes as Crash whizzed through the sky. He seemed to head towards the right direction...until he crashed into a tree trunk right next to the pond.

"AH! CRASH!" Eddie yelped with worry before running on all fours towards where his brother landed.

"Uh oh..." Manny and Sid shared an anxious glance before hurriedly running after the possum. After a fast and panicked run, the four managed to reach Crash, who was lying unconscious in his brother's arms.

"What happened?!" Ellie asked worriedly as she looked down at the two.

"Manny shot him out of a tree!" Eddie sniffed, clutching his brother close to him.

Ellie glared at said mammoth and snapped at him "What's wrong with you?!"

"He said he could do it!" Manny replied with defensive eyes.

"And you listened to him." Ellie snorted with a raised eyebrow. Manny simply stared at her for a moment before glancing down at the weeping possum.

"Crash, whatever you do, don't go into the light!" Eddie stammered while shaking his brother's shoulders with a panicked look.

"Can I help in anyway here...?" Manny asked nervously while walking forward voluntarily.

Ellie turned her head towards him for a moment with a scowl and huffed "You've done enough." before looking down again with worried eyes at her two brothers. Manny winced outwardly before walking away again.

"Are you happy now?" Manny sarcastically snapped at Sid, who didn't reply when the sound of Eddie's weeping came back again.

"Crash! Crash, don't leave me!" Eddie sniffed as he hugged his brother close to him, "Who's gonna watch my back? Who's gonna be my wing-man of mayhem?" Eddie finally let go of his brother and fell to his knees with a loud weep "Who's gonna roll in that dung patch with me?!"

"DUNG PATCH?!"

Everybody's eyes widened as they jolted in shock at Crash's sudden call. The used-to-be unconscious possum's head suddenly popped up at the name and he suddenly started to get up on his feet, Eddie standing up and starting to grin with shocked eyes.

"Wait...my legs, I can stand!" Crash yelled with glee as he pointed at his feet.

"He can stand!" Eddie repeated with a happy grin,

Crash then started to jog at one place and happily yelled out "I can run!"

"HE CAN RUN! IT'S A MIRACLE!" Eddie shouted out and spun his brother around with a bone-crushing hug while their sister yelled out with a beaming smile "HALLELUJAH!" before running into the forest together with cheerfull exclaims of 'whoohoo' and 'hurrays'.

Ellie was still laughing out loud until she noticed the four mammals who were giving her deadpanned looks. She then started to chuckle sheepishly "What can I say? They're boys! They make my life a little adventure!"

She continued to chuckle sheepishly as she walked away into the forest after her brothers until Taura heard her whisper harshly to her brothers "You guys are so dead!"

**Whack!**

**Bam!**

"NOT THE FACE!"

_"Y'know what..."_ Taura started to grin _"I like this girl!"_

* * *

It was nearly sundown, and the area around them had random rows of willow trees that gave the landscape a surreal aura to it. Taura really like willow trees, especially night time! Because wherever there were willow trees, you can bet there would be fireflies, which made the forest seem even more beautiful! The herd would've continued forward, but the road ahead of them was littered with randomly thrown logs and tree trunks that were clogging up the path. Ellie and the possums had no problem continuing forward, since they were more agile and nimble (well, maybe Crash and Eddie, but Taura wasn't so sure about Ellie...). Manny however wasn't able to go through and had to throw away the logs one at a time, with a little useless help from Sid who weakly plucked out a few random twigs. Diego leaped onto a random log and followed Manny's nostalgic line of sight to where Ellie, Taura and the possums were playing around on the logs; the two possums randomly hopping and leaping from one branch to another while Ellie and Taura tried to catch them.

"She's not half bad." Diego piqued up. Manny turned around towards him, hitting Sid with the log at the same time. Diego managed to duck from the rotating trunk before continuing with a small smile "Crazy and confused, but sweet."

Manny huffed "So? You don't see me bugging you about Taura and it's the exact same thing!"

Diego's eyes widened for a moment but then quickly shook his head to cover his shock "It's not the same. Me and Taura go way back...she's like family to me. While you on the other hand might have a chance with her."

Manny glared at him irritably before huffing the same thing again and turning back around, whacking Sid up the head again "So?"

Diego ducked down and furrowed his brows at the stubborn mammoth with confusion "So, what's holding you back?"

Manny through the log away before muttering sadly "My family..."

Manny picked up another log with his trunk, only to find Sid popping out the top with a comforting smile "You can have that again y'know?"

Manny sagged a bit and grumbled exasperatedly "No Sid, I can't." before lurching the log to the side, making Sid yelp out in surprise and cling onto the trunk's edges.

"Okay okay!" Sid stammered before glaring weakly at Manny "B-b-b-but think about it, if you let this chance go, you're letting you're whole species go and that's just...that's just...Selfish!"

Manny glowered at the sloth with anger before throwing the log away with more power on purpose, before walking away again. Diego walked past the sloth who was stuck underneath the log with an amused smile while Sid muttered out optimistically "I think I'm starting to get through to him!"

* * *

"Slow poke!" Crash called out before running away into the forest with a cackling Eddie while being chasing by a giggling Taura. After a while of noticing that a certain pair of mammoths were absent, Diego and Sid looked back to find the two walking away into the willows. Diego and Sid both smiled at the two before walking after the playing trio.

When Eddie looked back to find Taura still hot on their heels, he looked to the side and found a large area of willow trees on their right.

"Over there! Quick!" Eddie called out to his brother, who looked back and followed after Eddie into the forest, Taura chasing after them with a confident grin. Diego looked worriedly at the dark forest and called out to the female saber:

"Make sure you'll be back before midnight!"

Taura heard Diego's call and replied mentally _"Will do!"_ before focusing back on the chase. The trio just kept running and running and with each passing minute, Taura kept getting closer and closer until they could feel her warm panting breathe on their tails. She knew that she should probably just get them already, but that would cut the chase short and she wanted to let fun last as long as it could.

She was suddenly brought out of her thoughts when she felt a tree root hit against her paw, making her trip over her own feet and tumble over a few meters. Taura looked up to find the two possums mockingly pointing their fingers at her while cackling away on the tree branch; they were both dangling from their tails. Taura got up again quickly and glared at the two laughing away at her from their branch. After a while, the laughing started to die down and the two possums looked at her with confused expressions. They bother noticed Taura looking up, but not at them. She was glaring at the rising trunk of the willow tree with a heated glare, but somehow with a terrified shade in her eyes.

"So...?" Crash called out to her, making her start from her stupor as she glanced at them again. Eddie rolled his eyes in annoyance before huffing "Come on already! Why aren't you chasing us?"

Taura's eyes widened a bit before she took a few steps back and sat down, suddenly finding an interest at her paws. The two brothers looked at each other with worried expressions before they both hopped down from the tree and walked up towards her with confused smiles.

"Hey Taura?" Crash called her again, trying to catch her downcast and sheepish eyes. "Come on, what's the matter?"

Eddie added in while placing his paw on her own "Yeah, you can tell us!"

Taura stopped looking down at her paws and smiled gratefully at Eddie before looking forward at the previous willow tree. The two possums noticed her glances at the tree, before Crash decided to guess "What...you can't climb? I thought sabers were able to climb!"

Eddie felt his brows furrow in confusion before adding in "Yeah, Diego was able to climb up the tree when he met us!"

Taura shook her head at the two as if to say 'it's not that!' before looking down at the ground again with an annoyed frown. The two possums looked at each other again with the same confused looks, before they both began to ponder.

Crash's eyes suddenly widened in realization, "Hang on a minute..."

The two possums thought back to when Taura also didn't want to roll down the hill with them on the log, the way she stared fearfully at how steep the roll was and the way she stared fearfully at how high the crocodile was when it was on the rising edge of the ice chunk.

"Taura..." Eddie began while looking at her with wide eyes,

"Are you...afraid of heights?" Crash finished with equally wide eyes. When Taura stayed frozen stiff, they both knew what the answer was. The two possums looked at each other for a moment before bursting into laughter and rolling around on the floor.

"That's so stupid!" Crash guffawed as he hit his fist repeatedly on the ground.

"This just gives the meaning of 'fraidy cat a WHOLE new meaning!" Eddie chortled as tears of mirth rolled from his eyes.

The two continued to laugh at the poor female until they heard her growl threateningly. They both paused and looked up to find Taura bearing her fangs at them, making them both yelp in fear before bouncing away from her. She glared at them for a moment while gritting her teeth before snorting at them and walking away, a sulking air around her.

Crash and Eddie looked at each other with guilty expressions before running after Taura.

"Aw come on Taura!" Crash said, walking next to her on her left while Eddie was on her right. "We didn't mean it like that!"

"Yeah, we were just kidding around!" Eddie sheepishly said while scratching his neck awkwardly. Taura finally paused mid-step and smiled at the two as if to say 'no harm done'. Crash and Eddie both let out a sigh of relief before one of them curiously asked:

"So...you've seriously never climbed a tree before?" Crash asked her with a curious tilt of his head. Taura's grin shrunk a bit and took a more sheepish look before shaking her head. The two possums walked in front of her before looking at each other. Taura's smile left when she nervously stared at the two's growing mischievous smiles on their faces. The two finally looked up at her, both wearing shit-eating grins.

"Well then..." Eddie began while rubbing his hands together.

"We're gonna have to do something about that!" Crash snickered while cracking his knuckles. Taura started to back away slowly while giving the two nervous looks.

_"Oh dear, what did I get myself into..."_


End file.
